112



Field Notes on Ostriches.



have found its way very frequently into our members’ aviaries, or

we should probably have heard more about it. The cock is a

handsome bird, his white cheeks contrasting in a pleasing way

with his black head and breast and chestnut-coloured back; the

hen is not so richly coloured. To see them at their best they

should be kept in a large grass-covered aviary, containing not too

many shrubs and trees. My birds spend a good deal of their time

perched on a heap of faggots, but I think that they generally roost

on the ground at night. When disturbed they take to the trees,

as did my Indian Skylarks, and when singing the cock usually

selects the highest perch he can find. They are not nearly such

good vocalists as the Indian Lark, which is a really fine singer.

They appear to he very hardy, as they have been in a very exposed

enclosure all this winter, witli the temperature at times close on

zero. Two other species of Finch Larks are found in South Africa,

P. verticalis and P. australis, and we are told by Major Perreau

that there are several of these Larks in India. They are very

desirable birds, and should be well worth importing. My pair

nested in Dr. Amsler’s aviaries in 1914, but did not bring off any

young. They made no attempt to do so with me last season.



FIELD NOTES ON OSTRICHES.*


By Sir W. Cornwallis Harris.


No African landscape can be considered complete without a

group of these birds, and they are frequently to be seen in the

greenest part of the country. Observing them for the first time,

pasturing after the fashion of a flock of Geese, the stranger might

easily believe that he heheld a herd of black or white cattle, according

as the heads or tails were turned towards him. Many a time have I

seen a solitary coal-black cock, looming as large as an ox, standing

phlegmatically by himself, in the most exposed situation, the sun s

rays pouring perpendicularly upon his bald pate, but he appearing

most enviably regardless of the heat, drought and desolation that

surrounded him. Of the many wild scenes exhibited by Nature there



* Reprinted from ‘ Portraits of the Game and Wild Animals of Southern Africa.’



