The Ostrich and the Automobile

This four-panel strip depicts an ostrich's encounter with an early automobile. The bird initially flees from the honking vehicle, then becomes curious about its smell, and finally attempts to eat it—a gag playing on the popular myth that ostriches swallow anything. The strip uses the visual grammar that newspapers had standardized by the early 1900s: sequential panels with speech balloons advancing a narrative through repeated characters and physical comedy. The contrast between the ancient animal and modern machine reflects period fascination with automobiles as novelties entering everyday life.