I 



AN OSTRICH FARM AT MACHAKOS 



this newcomer's product with that of their own two- 

 year-olds. And I shall never forget the reluctantly 

 admiring shake of the head with which he acknowl- 

 ledged that it was indeed a "very fine feather!" 



But getting the birds is by no means all of ostrich 

 farming, as many eager experimenters have dis- 

 covered to their cost. The birds must have a 

 certain sort of pasture land; and their paddocks 

 must be built on an earth that will not soil or break 

 the edges of the new plumes. 



And then there is the constant danger of wild 

 beasts. When a man has spent years in gathering 

 suitable flocks, he cannot be blamed for wild anger 

 when, as happened while I was in the country, lions 

 kill sixty or seventy birds in a night. The ostrich 

 seems to tempt lions greatly. The beasts will 

 make their way through and over the most compli- 

 cated defences. Any ostrich farmer's life is a 

 constant warfare against them. Thus the Hills 

 had slain sixty-eight lions in and near their farm — 

 a tremendous record. Still the beasts continued to 

 come in. My hosts showed me with considerable 

 pride their arrangements finally evolved for night 

 protection. 



The ostriches were confined in a series of heavy 

 corrals segregating the birds of different ages. 

 Around the outside of this group of enclosures ran 



149 



