SANCTUARY 267 



keep about even ; but to make money out of a duck- 

 farm, or out of any other business, needs a great 

 deal of work and intelligent work at that. There 's 

 no short and easy road to making a living that 

 I 've ever heard of, at least, none that was honest. ' ' 



*'Then I wouldn't earn anything for a year!" 

 exclaimed Shan, with a boy's viewpoint that a 

 year is a terribly long time to wait. 



''Possibly not for two or three years," an- 

 swered the Feather Man; ''but that is one of the 

 things necessary to be considered in starting a 

 business. Naturally, a year seems a long time to 

 wait before earning any money and so I have an 

 offer to make you. 



**1 don't think I've said anything about it to 

 you so far, but I am interested in the domestic- 

 ation of foreign birds in the United States, the in- 

 troduction of which cannot do any harm to our 

 native bird population, as the importation of the 

 English Sparrow has done. The Ostrich, for in- 

 stance, is a good example of a bird which can be 

 raised in the United States under domestication. 

 The profits of an Ostrich farm are enormous. 

 One acre of alfalfa will raise food enough for four 

 birds, each bird yielding $30 worth of feathers 

 and from thirty-six to ninety eggs, while grown 



