332 THE GANNET 



Gray's quotation from some official som"ce— but he does not say what, 

 and Mr. Ternier is unable to find it for me — of 1,255,500 Larks having 

 been taken in the vicinity of Dieppe in 1867-8 (" Birds of the West of 

 Scotland," p. 123). Something also I think is to be gathered from the 

 number of Ostriches which are now kept for the profit arising from their 

 feathers. In 1896 the number of Ostriches farmed in Cape Colony was 

 officially returned at 225,000, and in 1904 at 357,808 ; since then they 

 are believed by Professor Duerden to have greatly increased, but later 

 statistics, I am informed by the Agent-General, are not available. 

 The South American Ostriches, commonly called Rheas {Rhea americana. 

 Lath.) in the Argentine States, are even more abundant than the Cape 

 Ostriches. In 1909 the number of Rheas in semi-captivity was returned 

 by H.M. Consul at Buenos Ayres as being 409,000 (" The Field," October 

 2nd, 1909). 



