CHAPTER XXIV. 



WOUNDS. 



The Ostrich is exceedingly liable to injuries, owing to 

 its timid nature. No matter what precautions are taken, 

 they w^ill occasionally injure themselves by running 

 against fences, stumps, or into holes; whilst the habit 

 of fighting amongst themselves causes them to give 

 each other serious w^ounds. But as a set-oif against 

 this, the farmer has the consolation that their flesh heals 

 more readily than that of any other animal we know, 

 and is far less liable to the usual difficulty of getting 

 wounds to heal in animals — that of being fly-blown. 



Some, farmers make a habit o£ bathing a wound 

 either with hot or cold water directly it occurs. 

 This is a great mistake, as nature immediately 

 sets to work to try and repair the injury by throw- 

 inor out the insfredients that <to to make new flesh, 

 which the bathing washes away. What is required 

 is to exclude the air, at the same time uniting the parts 

 together. Bathing should only be resorted to wdiere 

 dirt has got in the wound, or wdien the wound has 

 not been observed for a day or so, in which case the 



