60 Emu and Ostrich Farming. 



aiid might resent my exposure in public of the chagrin he must 

 have experienced. He came accompanied with a handsome and 

 valuable collie. Before entering- the enclosure I suggested the 

 propriety of his leaving his dog outside. He, evidently thinking 

 that I vp^as alarmed for the safety of my pets, said his dog was 

 very gentle and would not harm them. I retorted that 1 had no 

 fear for my pets if he had none for his, and told him to " come on.'' 

 No sooner had the dog leapt over the style than " Tommy" and 

 " Jenny," wjio had a young- brood beside tliem, went for the poor 

 beast, and the scene that followed would have been ludicrous 

 enough had it not been for the mortal terror of poor " bow-wow." 

 He rushed round and round the enclosure, too closely followed by 

 the whole pack to have time for a spring over the fence, but in his 

 mad endeavour to escape trying- to get through the bottom I'ails. 

 The fence was an ordinary barred paling, 6 feet high, but backed 

 by three feet of wire netting- to confine the young ones. After 

 trying in vain at every point to find an exit, and never getting a 

 moment's respite he became quite exhausted and sought refuge in 

 a corner where the fence joined a shed. Here "Tommy" 

 promptly began to " perform the war dance" on the top of his 

 vanquished foe, and had I not seized '' Tommy " by the neck and 

 pulled him away his foe would have been in a few minutes a dog 

 with no name, good or bad. 



When I sold off my birds in 1885, preparatory to my leaving 

 the country for some years, I had th3 original pair of old ones, 

 which by the way reared more young ones that season than ever 

 they had done before, viz., 12, and though they were at least 

 eleven years old. I had them, as previously stated, ten years, and 

 how old they were when I got them I cannot say — they were 

 certainly adult. Besides them I had five young ones full grown. 

 The catching of so many at one time being a serious and laborious 

 affair, ten men were gathered together to act as hounds, there 

 being no other means of catching them except by running them 

 down or putting up a large amount of fencing, at least 7 feet high. 

 I have seen them scramble on to the top of one 6 feet high, with- 

 out being pressed to do so. Their " run " consisted of a fiat field 

 of six acres with a smaller one of two acres. In the latter was a 

 wood covering a steep bank, and running them down when this 

 rough bank had to be negotiated was no easy matter. When we 

 a-ot each bird hemmed into a corner several men rushed in and 



