530 STRUTHIONID^ STKUTHIO 



when, as undoubtedly often happens, other unattached hens, some 

 six or seven in number, lay eggs in the same nest so that as many 

 as sixty or seventy eggs result, very few if any of these are hatched, 

 and the result is disastrous ; while if the single original pair are 

 undisturbed and the monogamous state continues, there will be a 

 good yield of chicks. Mr. Cronwright Schreiner, therefore, con- 

 siders that in the Ostrich monogamy is normal, polygamy abnormal, 

 the latter being due chiefly to a preponderance of hens brought 

 about by the more pugnacious nature of the males and by their 

 being much more liable to accidental death both in a wild and 

 domesticated state. 



The cock and hen bird together construct the nest, which is 

 merely a slight depression in the soil made by scraping or kicking 

 out the earth, usually in a somewhat retired spot. The hen then 

 lays an egg every other day, her full complement being from fifteen 

 to twenty ; she usually commences to sit before the full complement 

 is completed, but when the sitting assumes its regular course the 

 hen sits during the day from about 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., the cock at 

 night from 4 p.m. to 8 a.m. This goes on regularly during the 

 whole incubation-period which lasts from five to six weeks. When 

 the birds are sitting, the head, neck and tail are laid flat on the 

 ground and the thighs are covered by the wings, so that it is difficult 

 to see either the black male at night or the brown hen by day. 



The chicks when hatched are perfectly helpless for about twenty- 

 four hours, after which they begin -to run and eat and are carefully 

 tended by both parents. 



The eggs of the Southern Ostrich are spheroidal in shape ; the 

 shell is strong and thick, the surface smooth and glossy as if 

 polished and the whole is covered with a series of minute pores or 

 pits. Normal eggs measure about 6*0 x 5'90, but much smaller 

 "ones, about 4-50 x 3-75, are frequently met* with, besides various 

 abnormalities in shape and texture. 



The commercial value of Ostriches is derived from their plumes; 

 these are the longer tail- and wing-feathers, which have been prized 

 as ornaments from the earliest times. In order to obtain these 

 the Ostrich has always been the object of pursuit, but it was not 

 till about the year 1870 that the idea arose of breeding and 

 domesticating the birds on a large scale. So rapidly did the 

 industry spread that, whereas in 1865 there were only 80 tame 

 Ostriches in the Colony, 32,000 were included in the census of 1875, 

 the greater number of which were to be found in the districts of 



