76 OSTRICH-FARMIXG IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



comes to cut the quill feathers, it is much damaged. 

 But if the symmetry of the bird is desired to he kept by 

 having all its feathers ripe at one time, then the tail 

 should be cut and stumps drawn, as with the quill 

 feathers. But with breeding birds the stumps in the 

 hen^s tail are apt to baulk the male in pairing. 



Great care should be exercised in pulling the brown 

 feathers from the young birds at the first plucking, as 

 the skin and flesh are very tender, and the socket is apt 

 to pull out, when a blank will be there for ever. To 

 avoid this, the flesh should be held down with the fore- 

 finger and thumb of the left hand. 



In drawing the quills after leaving them the two 

 months, it will be found that they are still a little 

 moist and slightly bloody, but it is better not to leave 

 them longer, or the new feather will have begun to 

 grow^ and sometimes v.ill be pulled out, having adhered 

 to the old quill. This I believe to be the cause of blanks 

 in the wing, which every Ostrich- farmer must have 

 experienced. I do not speak positively as to this being 

 the cause^ but I never remember noticing blanks when 

 I used to pluck every bird at six months old, and 

 regularly every six months afterwards. 



Once in the early da^'s I was busy plucking some 

 chicks six months old, when another of the first begin- 

 ners of bird-farming happened to pay me a visit. He 



