86 RIVERBY 



come to blows, fight much more spitefully and reck- 

 lessly than do the males. One species of bird has 

 been known to care for the young of another species 

 which had been made orphans. The male turkey 

 will sometimes cover the eggs of his mate and hatch 

 and rear the brood alone. Altogether, birds often 

 present some marked resemblances in their actions 

 to men, when love is the motive. 



Mrs, Martin, in her " Home Life on an Ostrich 

 Farm, " relates this curious incident ; — 



" One undutiful hen — having apparently imbibed 

 advanced notions — absolutely refused to sit at all, 

 and the poor husband, determined not to be disap- 

 pointed of his little family, did all the work himself, 

 sitting bravely and patiently day and night, though 

 nearly dead with exhaustion, till the chicks were 

 hatched out. The next time this pair of birds had 

 a nest, the cock's mind was firmly made up that he 

 would stand no more nonsense. He fought the hen 

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

 she was all but killed, and this Petruchio-like treat- 

 ment had the desired effect, for the wife never again 

 rebelled, but sat submissively." 



In the case of another pair of ostriches of which 

 Mrs. Martin tells, the female was accidentally killed, 

 when the male mourned her loss for over two years, 

 and would not look at another female. He wan- 

 dered 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 tyran- 

 nically; he became the most hen-pecked, or rather 

 hen-kicked of husbands. 



