io6 HOME LIFE ON AN OSTRICH FARM. 



flat head, much too small for the huge body, is also bald, 

 with the exception of a few stiff bristles and scanty 

 tufts of down ; such as also redeem the neck from 

 absolute bareness. During the breeding season the 

 bill of the male bird, and the large scales on the fore 

 part of his legs, assume a beautiful deep rose-colour, 

 looking just as if they were made of the finest pink 

 coral ; in some cases the skin of the head and neck also 

 becomes red at that time. 



The North African or Barbary ostriches, several of 

 which are to be seen at the Jardin d'Essai, in Algiers, 

 have bright red thighs, head, and neck, and are alto- 

 gether far handsomer than the Cape birds ; their 

 feathers also, being larger, softer, and possessing longer 

 filaments, command much higher prices than those of 

 their southern brethren. 



Altogether, ostriches are queer-looking creatures ; 

 they are so awkward, so out of proportion, and every- 

 thing about them, with the exception of their plumage 

 and their big, soft, dark eyes, is so quaintly ugly as 

 to suggest the idea that they have only by some 

 mistake survived the Deluge, and that they would be 

 more in their right place embedded in the fossiliferous 

 strata of the earth than running about on its surface. 

 And how they do run ! Only startle an ostrich ; and 

 very little is sufficient to do this, his nerves being of 

 the feeblest, and " his heart in his mouth " at even the 

 smallest or most imaginary danger. What a jump he 

 gives, and what a swerve to one side ! Surely it must 

 have dislocated some of his joints. But no ; off he goes, 



