124 OSTRICH-FARMiyG IX SOUTH AFRICA. 



larger birds if tliey can get it; if this is not to be had, 

 fresh cow-duno^ will do as Avell. For the first four 

 days the chick lives on the yolk that it has taken into 

 the stomach. In wet weather they must be kept in a 

 warm, light room. AVhen two months old they can be 

 put in a shed at night, provided it does not face the cold 

 winds, and at three months old can be left out alto- 

 gether, except in very bad weather. The great secret is 

 keeping them supplied with as much green food as they 

 will eat." 



Such were the instructions we always supplied, and 

 acting up to which we used to rear nearly all the chicks, 

 ten to twenty per cent, being the extent of our losses, 

 includino^ accidents. But a few vears as.o the chicks in 

 the up-country districts began to die in spite of every 

 care, every chick on a farm being often swept off. The 

 first we heard of their dying was on a farm in the 

 Middleburg district about six years ago ; we then heard 

 no more of it till it appeared in the Colesberg district 

 about two years afterwards, where it became prevalent 

 all over the district, the Cradock district soon following ; 

 and last year it appeared in Albany, and as far as we 

 know all over the colony, here and there missing a farm 

 for one or two seasons, but sooner or later breaking out 

 everywhere. 



The disease has got the name of '^ Yellow Liver," 



