178 ANIMAL SKETCHES. CHAP. 



statements with some suspicion. The hens take turns in 

 sitting during the day, never leaving them long in the 

 scorching heat of the South African sun. But at sun- 

 down the cock-bird takes charge of the eggs and sits 

 throughout the night. He is not going to be bound by any 

 conventional rules as to the proper division of labour 

 between the sexes. 



A very careful observer, Mrs. Barber, has drawn attention 

 to the fact that the indistinct grey colours of the hen 

 ostrich are wonderfully adapted for purposes of conceal- 

 ment. These birds while upon their nests do not erect 

 their necks but place them at full length in front of them 

 upon the ground ; and the grey-brown body might, Mrs. 

 Barber says, be easily mistaken for some other object such 

 as, for instance, an ant-hill, so common on the plains of 

 South Africa, That so large a bird should be incon- 

 spicuous may seem surprising; but another observer, Mr. 

 W. Larden, tells us of his experience with the rhea, or 

 South American ostrich, which seems quite to bear this 

 out. " One day," he says, " I came across a rhea in a nest 

 that it had made in the dry weeds and grass. Its wings 

 and feathers were loosely arranged, and looked not unlike 

 a heap of dried grass ; at any rate the bird did not attract 

 my attention until I was close on him. The long neck 

 was stretched out close along the ground, the crest feathers 

 were flattened, and an appalling hiss greeted my approach. 

 It was a pardonable mistake if for a moment I thought I 

 had come across a huge snake, and sprang back hastily 

 under this impression." 



The male ostrich with his splendid black and white 

 feathers would not be thus inconspicuous by day. But he 

 sits at night and his strength and pugnacity would induce 

 most other creatures, prowling around in the half light, 

 to let him alone. Mrs. Barber describes the careful and 

 cunning manner in which the female bird approaches the 



