73.S Journal of the Department of Agriculture. 



inquiries regarding the ostriches. They finally landed at Eorcados, 

 on the Niger Delta, and after proceeding about 500' miles up the 

 Niger left the river at Baro and struck due north. After journeying 

 about 300 miles in this direction they arrived at Kano, the great 

 central market for the vSoudan. Here they were enabled to examine 

 various parcels of feathers brought in from the surrounding districts, 

 and a fair quantity of the type which they were seeking were found 

 amongst them. The birds themselves, it was found, existed in their 

 wild state a considerable distance inland, and that large numbers are 

 killed each year by hunters for the sake of their feathers, while quite 

 a number of the chicks are caught at the nests and reared in captivity. 

 The methods of keeping these domesticated birds are very different to 

 our South African methods. The birds are kept in small pens about 

 six or eiglit feet square, and usually only one or two in a pen. Of 

 course, under these conditions they never breed, whilst the methods of 

 taking the feathers are not the humane ones employed in South 

 Africa, the feathers being pulled from the birds often before they are 

 ripe, the bird being plucked absolutely bare. 



The chain of evidence in the history of the present South African 

 ostrich was, fortunately, established, for the four ostriches imported 

 in 1876, already referred to, were actually traced by the members of 

 the expedition as liaving come from the exact locality where the birds 

 of the dense-featlier type had been located. The son of the Arab 

 who had originally received the contract to supply these birds was 

 interviewed, and he gave full details of their long journey across the 

 Sahara and of the final shipping of the birds from a Tripolitan port. 

 With this proof of the correctness of their deductions the expedition 

 set about to procure what birds they could of the desired type and to 

 return to South Africa with them. 



All the birds in British Nigeria were examined, and every one of 

 the right type was secured. Of these a total number of 150 were 

 purch':^.sed, and, after considerable difficulties, 132 of them finally 

 reached the Grootfontein School of Agriculture, Middelburg (Cape), 

 in May, 1912. 



The total amount expended on the importation of the ostriches 

 was £7272. 19s. 6d., which included everything, such as money spent 

 on purchase of the ostriches, chartering of the boat from Lagos to 

 Capetown, salaries of officials, etc. The amount is small when com- 

 pared with the money spent by the Government on the importation of 

 cattle or sheep. 



No internal parasites of any kind were found in the ostriches 

 in Nigeria. Ostrich tapeworm and wireworm seem to be non-existent 

 in that country, although the imported birds soon developed them 

 after arrival in South Africa. 



As soon as the birds were landed in South Africa and before they 

 had recovered from the effects of the long journey they were con- 

 demned and pronounced to be quite useless by a number of individuals 

 who were expecting to see something superior to the domesticated 

 South African birds, forgetting that the latter had reached their 

 present high standard of quality after generations of selective 

 breeding. 



In addition to the strain imposed on the birds by their long 

 journey by land and sea most of them had been subjected to very 

 severe treatment in the matter of plucking in their native land, and 



