100 OSTRICH-FARMING IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



from the other's fence. But when the camps are 

 small, they bother up and down after each other all 

 day. 



There should always be a supply of crushed bones 

 in each camp ; and on sour veldt an occasional supply 

 of salt is advisable. 



The fact of the birds having paired is known by the 

 cock leaving an unmistakeable mark on the left side of 

 the tail. The oftener it has been done the more con- 

 spicuous becomes the mark. 



Man}" breeders get their birds so savage that they 

 are hardly manageable : this is from want of care or 

 knowledge. If men are allowed to enter the camps 

 with bad bushes, and the birds get fighting with them, 

 or, worse still, if they go with none at all, and then 

 dodge about, the quietest bird will in a week or two be 

 made perfectly rampant. But if good bushes are taken 

 the bird gets to know that he can do nothing, and 

 seldom attempts any nonsense. If they are always 

 treated like this, on a pinch a man could walk through 

 the camp with only a walking-stick held out, and they 

 would not charge ; though if he had nothing in his hand 

 they would. 



