B ill lofjrapJi teal Notices. 2o9 



on the other side are Drs. Finsoh, Ilartlaub, and Elasius junr. ; so 

 the matter must be left in abeyance until a larger series of speci- 

 mens ran be examined. An important step has lately been taken 

 by ilr. de Mosonthal in shipping a jjair of first-class JJarbary birds 

 to South Africa with the view of improving the breed of the Cape 

 Ostrich ; and comparison of the birds from the two extremities of 

 the continent may tend to solve the question. 



The Swedish traveller, Sparrman, more than a century ago, men- 

 tioned the fact of tame ostriches l)eing kept by some of the farmers 

 at the Capo; and Capt. Lyon, in 1^2U, mentioned the similar fact 

 with regard to North Africa ; indeed, up to the present time, a 

 large portion of the feathers from Kordofan are known to bo the 

 produce of tame birds, all, however, hatched by female ostriches, and 

 without the aid of an artificial incubator. "With the increased de- 

 mand for feathers it became plain to all reflecting minds that there 

 was a great risk of the extermination of the wild birds at no distant 

 period; and in iJ^oU the Acclimatization Society of Paris offered 

 premiums for the successful domestication of the species in Senegal 

 and Algeria, and for breeding ostiiches in Europe. Prince Demi- 

 doff was to some extent successful at Florence ; and similar experi- 

 ments, with satisfactory results, were made at ilarseilles, Grenoble, 

 and ^[adrid. It was, however, reserved for the colonists at the 

 Cape to carrj'.out the plan on a large scale; and of the rapid rise 

 and results of this new industry some idea may be formed when 

 wo read that, although only commenced in 18(36, the number of tamo 

 ostriches at the census of IST'i amounted to no less than 32,247. 

 Of these a considerable number have been hatched out by Douglas's 

 incubator, by means of which ]Mr. John Xoble succeeded in rearing 

 in a single season from six ostriches (four hens and one cock) one 

 hundred and thirty birds I This is a vast improvement upon the 

 wholesale slaughter formerly necessary to provide plumes for the 

 European market ; for although the feathers of the wild birds have a 

 crispness which no " tame feathers " possess, yet the demand for 

 the second class is sufficient to make ostrich-farming a very profi- 

 table business. Contrast the state of things in the Argentine pro- 

 vinces, where the unfortunate Rhea, or South- American Ostrich, seems 

 in a fair way of extermination, nearly half a million haWng been 

 slaughtered annually for some years, without any compensation iji 

 the way of artificial production, llespecting the habits, manner of 

 hunting, and the characteristic distinctions of the two species found 

 in the southern portions of the American continent, a long account 

 is given ; and it is somewhat amusing (as throwing light upon many 

 '• trade " names) to learn that the best feathers of the llhca are 

 known as Vautour plumes, whilst the white and half-white ones are 

 termed gerhes indiennes, or Indian sheaves. It is much to be regretted 

 that the unenterprising hall'-breeds who inhabit a large portion of the 

 Piver-Platc States should never have made any attempt to protect 

 and foster these handsome birds ; for the experiment of M. Vavaseur 

 in Prance, after an experience of fifteen years in Uruguay, shows that 

 in a civilized country, and one not in a state of chronic revolutionary 



