116 BAHIA BLANCA. 



found all over the country. They lie either scat- 

 tered and single, in which case they are never 

 hatched, and are called by the Spaniards huachos; 

 or they are collected together into a shallow exca- 

 vation, which forms the nest. Out of the four 

 nests which I saw three contained twenty-two eggs 

 each, and the fourth twenty-seven. In one day^s 

 hunting on horseback sixty-four eggs were found ; 

 forty-four of these were in two nests, and the re- 

 maining twenty, scattered huachos. The Gauchos 

 unanimously affirm, and there is no reason to doubt 

 their statement, that the male bird alone hatches 

 the eggs, and for some time afterwards accompanies 

 the young. The cock when on the nest lies very 

 close ; I have myself almost ridden over one. It 

 is asserted that at such times they are occasionally 

 fierce, and even dangerous, and that they have been 

 known to attack a man on horseback, trying to kick 

 and leap on him. My informer pointed out to me 

 an old man, whom he had seen much terrified by 

 one chasing him. I observe in Burchell's travels 

 in South Africa, that he remarks, " Having killed 

 a male ostrich, and the feathers being dirty, it was 

 said by the Hottentots to be a nest bird." I un- 

 derstand that the male emu in the Zoological Gar- 

 dens takes charge of the nest : this habit, therefore, 

 is common to the family. 



The Gauchos unanimously affirm that several 

 females lay in one nest. I have been positively 

 told that four or five hen birds have been watched 

 to go in the middle of the day, one after the otlier, 

 to the same nest. I may add, also, that it is be- 

 lieved in Africa, that two or more females lay in 

 one nest.* Although this habit at first appears 

 very strange, I think the cause may be explained 

 in a simple manner. The number of eggs in the 

 * Burchell's Travels, vol. i., p. 280. 



