THE OSTRICH 3 



till the beginning of May. European swallows begin 

 to arrive about the end of September, and the last of 

 them leave about the first week in May. Of African 



/migrants, the stripe-breasted ? swallow remains from 

 September till April in south Africa ; the carmine- 



> throated bee-eater/ from September till the end of March. 

 In fact, there is a general arrival of all visitors about 

 the beginning of October, and an exodus at the com- 

 mencement of the following April. 



CHAPTER II 

 THE OSTRICH : BUSTARDS : DIKKOPS 



/THE OSTRICH.? The ostrich belongs to the sub-class 

 of flightless birds, devoid of any keel to the breastbone, 

 and scientifically known as ratitce. It is, further, the 

 only representative of its family, and is distinguished 

 by the absence of all but the third and fourth toes on 

 each foot. 



Ostriches exist throughout the greater part of Africa, 

 in suitable surroundings, but they are absent from the 

 forest regions of west Africa and the Congo, and have 

 not been met with in Nyasaland, nor in northern 

 Rhodesia. This blank on the map forms a neutral 

 zone between the southern race and those found through 

 the northern part of German JEast Africa and Somaliland. 



An extreme northerly form also exists in Arabia. 



It was not until about the year 1870 that ostrich 

 farming was seriously adopted as an industry in the 

 Cape Colony ; but in these forty years it has made 

 enormous strides, both in scope and in the improvement 

 of the birds by selection. In 1874 the weight of feathers 

 exported was 36,829 lb., valued at 205,640, while in 



