Emu and Ostrich Farming. 51 



become toned down, as you will see from the specimeu produced. 

 I have one at home of quite a blue colour, and the shell is per- 

 fectly smooth, not granulated like the one you see. When the 

 egg-s are exposed to full daylig'ht for some time they become a 

 dirty grey colour. Their laying season lasts from January till 

 April m this climate. 



At Castle O'er the Rheas had two large fields to roam in, as 

 well as the grounds round the house. They laid their eggs some- 

 times in strange places, as you will hear presently. When they 

 laid in the fields I never noticed any preliminary symptoms, and 

 their laj'ing season being in summer, and the eggs being free from 

 the risk of frost, were not so particularly looked after as those of 

 the Emus, but when one was siqrposed to be due the whole house- 

 hold turned out to look for them. We went in a line along the 

 fields, and as, owing to their colour, they were easily seen, I do 

 not think we ever missed one. As a corbie could not easily carry 

 one away, and we never found a "sucked" one, I presume these 

 robbers either did not know what they were, or suspecting they 

 were " made in Germany," despised such foreign produce. Their 

 eggs when newly laid are more of a very pale orange colour than 

 the creamy tiut they fade to when they are exposed to the light. 

 When one lay over night the upper half was cream coloured, 

 whereas the under half retained the darker yellow, being shaded 

 from the light by itself and the grass upon which it lay. The 

 average weight of Rheas eggs is just upon 1 lb. 9 oz ; to be 

 exact, 1 lb. 8f oz. At least, that is the result from six I weighed 

 together. I have no written note of the average weight of Emus' 

 eggs, but I am quite sure, in my own mind, that they averaged 

 1 lb. 10| oz. I know for certain that one balanced fourteen hen's 

 eggs. Average size of twelve eggs : Rhea — 5| in. by 3| in. ; 

 Emu— 5| in. by 3f in; big one — 6| in. by 3| in., 1 lb. 9;^ oz. 

 There are two birds of the same family, one of which at least 

 should have had a first place in a paper treating of the "Oursores." 

 I allude to the African ostrich and the Cassowary, a native of 

 Malacca ; but as I have never been the fortunate possessor of 

 either, and as I have wished to confine my remarks to those only 

 which have come under my own personal observation, I shall make 

 no special reference to them or their habits. This can be found 

 in any elementary work on Natural History. The chief of the 

 whole group is the African ostrich, but I shall not take up your 



