in South Africa. 51 



but directly you put them down and begin retreating from 

 the nest, he fights worse than before. 



The process of sexual selection, by which the stamina of 

 the bird and the beauty of its feathers are kept up, is very 

 marked in the Ostrich. As the breeding-season comes on, the 

 cock begins to disport himself before the hens. Dropping 

 on his haunches, he distends his wings like two huge fans, 

 and rolling his head from side to side makes every feather 

 quiver. Then, jumping up, he utters three bellows that 

 much resemble the roar of a lion, as a challenge to any 

 other cock to come and fight ; this he continues for some 

 days, till a hen accepts him and they pair off. The breeder, 

 by careful selection and by keeping pairs together, can manage 

 affairs more quickly. At the same time he is met by con- 

 siderable difficulties. A cock and a hen, both superior 

 birds and obtained from well-established strains, may be 

 mated, and yet the resulting chicks may be very disap- 

 pointing, while it may be years before a consort for either 

 parent is found to produce satisfactory chicks. When a 

 pair are satisfactorily mated, the strain is easily maintained 

 by inbreeding ; but the usual consequences of inbreeding — 

 weak constitution and barrenness, or chicks difficult to rear — 

 soon become manifest. 



In 1880, with an annual production of 163,065 lbs. weight, 

 the export value of Ostrich-feathers per lb. was £5 8s. 4<d. ; in 

 1904, twenty-four years later, the production was 470,381 lbs., 

 with a declared export value of £2 5s. Od. per lb. ; so that 

 in twenty-four years the production had increased nearly 

 threefold, and the price had fallen to nearly one-third. In 

 fact, it seemed as if further increased production would 

 be followed by a corresponding fall in value. But this will 

 not necessarily be so, as during the last twelve years, although 

 the production has been steadily increasing, the value of 

 feathers per lb. has remained much the same. Thus it looks 

 as though the world's increased demand were able to absorb 

 the present rate of increased supply, and it is doubtful if 

 South Africa is capable of increasing the production at the 



e2 



