108 OSTKICH-F ARMING IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



pairs sit so closely that the eggs are constantly hot from 

 the first to tlie last clay, whilst others will be constantly 

 off for an hour or more at a time, and yet bring out 

 nearly every egg. 



Some birds get very impatient, especially if there 

 are many days between the hatching of the first and 

 the last chick, and are apt to leave the nest before all 

 are batched, but the less they are visited the less likely 

 they are to do this. But if they do abandon the nest, 

 and the forsaken eggs appear quite cold, do not despair, 

 because if these are put in an incubator, or even wrapped 

 in blankets and put in a warm place, they will most 

 likely recover. 



Some pairs will let a good many chicks die in the 

 shell from want of assisting them, whilst a good pair 

 will break with their breast-bone all that they evidently 

 know by instinct are fast in the shell, repeating the 

 operation till they liberate the chick ; and sometimes 

 they will even take the chick by the head and shake it 

 clean out of the shell. 



Wlien it is intended to let the birds rear the chicks 

 — and, mind, we say that unless this is intended it is a 

 great mistake to let the birds sit at all — poison should be 

 freely laid about for some time before the brood is 

 expected to hatch, otherwise some will be sure to be 

 taken by cats or jackals. And after the brood lias left 



