xii. THE OSTRICH. 173 



up almost anything he can get, from a snake or a lizard 

 to a snail or a beetle. He lays the mineral kingdom also 

 under contribution, swallowing stones in abundance, with 

 nails and odd bits of metal. I was told by a young African 

 farmer that he found his favourite pocket-knife in the 

 maw of a dead ostrich ; and one which died at the Zoo 

 had ninepence halfpenny in copper money stowed away 

 inside him. It is said that during the first day or two of 

 their lives newly-hatched ostriches eat nothing but small 

 hard, round, carefully-selected pebbles ! 



Why does the ostrich eat stones and pebbles ? Is this 

 part of his affected singularity ? No. In this he is not 

 so very singular ; for all grain- eating birds swallow small 

 stones, and this because they have no teeth, and therefore 

 cannot grind the food in the mouth. The gizzard is lined 

 with a hard, dense animal substance, and is exceedingly 

 muscular ; here it is that the grain and other nutritious 

 substances which the bird swallows are ground and 

 bruised to a pulp. The stones are therefore taken in to play 

 the part of mill-stones. And it is supposed that the little 

 ostrich swallows the pebbles to prepare its gizzard for its 

 special work. 



Exceedingly pretty little fellows are young ostriches. 

 They have little bristles all over them mixed with the 

 down, and are likened by Mr. Hillier to giant young- 

 partridges. I have seen the young birds in all stages in 

 South Africa, where they are largely reared on ostrich 

 farms, the eggs being now generally artificially hatched in 

 incubators. They require some care at first, and are 

 housed at night in a warm room. They dance instinc- 

 tively at a somewhat tender age, and it is a pleasing 

 sight to see the young birds waltzing in the sunshine. 



"There are not," says Mrs. Martin in her charming 

 book Home Life on an Ostrich Farm, " there are not 



