BIRD COUETSHIP 87 



cock's mind was firmly made up that he would 

 stand no more nonsense. He foyght the hen 

 ■[kicked her], giving her so severe a thrashing 

 that she was all but killed, and this Petruchio- 

 like treatment had the desired effect, for the 

 wife never again rebelled, but sat submis- 

 sively. " 



In the case of another pair of ostriches of 

 which Mrs. Martin tells, the female was acci- 

 dentally killed, when the male mourned her 

 loss for over two years and would not look at 

 another female. He wandered up and down, 

 up and down, the length of his camp, utterly 

 disconsolate. At last he mated again with a 

 most magnificent hen, who ruled him tyranni- 

 cally; he became the most hen-pecked, or, 

 rather, hen-kicked of husbands. 



^ 



