78 OSTEICH-FARMING IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



feathers, whilst with the tame bird it is divided amongst 

 the whole of the quills. 



This is another reason why it is better to pull the 

 other wing feathers when the quills are cut ; the quills 

 then get the whole growing power for their last two 

 months, when the blacks have ceased to grow. 



For a large troop of birds, say 150, the best kind of 

 plucking-box is a kraal in a fence, made of yellow wood 

 planks nailed on to quartering, and this quartering 

 should be bolted on to sneezewood feet. The size of the 

 kraal should be twenty feet square and five feet high, 

 one foot being left open at the bottom. There should be 

 two plank doors on hinges opening on either side of the 

 fence ; alongside this kraal, and communicating with it 

 by a sliding door should be another kraal, only ten feet 

 Avide, with one end moveable, and made of lighter tim- 

 ber, say three quarter-inch deal: this latter kraal should 

 also have two doors opening in different directions. 



The birds having been got into the large kraal, those 

 that are wanted to be plucked or branded are picked out 

 and put into the small kraal. The moveable end of the 

 small kraal is brought down and the birds jammed up, 

 when the men can stand in amongst them and pluck 

 with the greatest impunity, one man standing outside 

 to receive the feathers. For breeding camps, a simple 

 kraal eight feet square, with one end moveable, is suffi- 



