188 OSTRICH-FARMING IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



pills about, especially on tlie roads and little foot- 

 tracks ; or, better still, by dragging a paunch or part of 

 a dead carcase across the veldt at sundown, occasionally 

 dropping a pill on the line of scent. The farmer, if he 

 notices, will soon discover on his farm the warrens of 

 holes that the jackals inhabit, generally not more than 

 one or two on a farm ; and when he has once got them 

 reduced down, should he again hear one barking, he 

 has only to lay pills at the warren to at once destroy 

 it. Many farmers are frightened to lay pills in 

 their Ostrich-camps, but they need not be afraid. We 

 have made it an invariable practice to do so, and unless 

 the birds have been trained to eat meat they will not 

 touch them. 



Wild cats are exceedingly numerous, and very 

 destructive to the chicks when they first hatch in the 

 veldt. The only safeguard is to destroy them with 

 poison ; and if the camp abuts on to a river, or there is 

 much bush about, it is always advisable to lay poison 

 some days before the brood is expected out. 



The lynx is not a common animal, but is very bold 

 and destructive when he does come ; but he is not 

 capable of attacking chicks over four months old. 

 He, too, must be settled with poison. 



An Ostrich- farmer should never permit a native to 

 keep a dog, and better still if he does not keep one 



