birds. 7547 



almost impossible to hold in our servants, when the alarm was given, from wildly 

 giillopiug over the plain. On this occasion, however, we had observed with our tele- 

 scopes two birds standing for some time in one spot, and were induced to ride towards 

 them. By great good fortune we delected their track as we crossed it, for the stride 

 of the ostrich often measuring when at full speed from twenty-two to twenty-eighi feel, 

 and there being simply the round impression of his two toes, it is very difficult to dis- 

 cover its course. We traced these steps back to the spot where we had seen the birds 

 standing, and where the sand was well trodden down. Two Arabs at once dismounting 

 began to dig with their hands, and presently brought up four fine fresh eggs from a 

 depth of about a foot under the warm sand. I may remark that the egg of the North 

 African ostrich seems to differ decidedly from that of the Cape bird ; I have seen hun- 

 dreds of specimens, and always found them rather larger than the southern eggs which 

 we generally see in England, and quite smooth, with an ivory polished surface, and 

 free from any punctures. Until I found the eggs mjself, I was under the impression 

 that they might be polished by the Arabs, but this is a mistake. The eggs are applied 

 to various uses by the natives, chiefly as ornaments for their tents, driuking-cups and 

 work-boxes, but above all for the embellishment of the mosques, where long rows are 

 suspended from the arches or rafters, and of the burying-i-rounds, where each grave, 

 especially at Waregla and Ngoussa, is decorated with an osirich-egg set in mortar at 

 the head and at the foot, the shieks being honoured with from twelve to twenty each, 

 sometimes pUmted all round the grave, sometimes built into a pyramidal shape at the 

 head. The ostrich appears to lay from the beginning of December to March, — at least 

 fresh eggs are to be obtained throughout that period; but I was unable to asctriain 

 either the time of incubation or the number of the brood, as no dependancecan be placed 

 on the Arab stories on these points. From all I could learn the numlierof egs;s is not less 

 than twelve, and the young are generally hatched about the end of February. The 

 hunters all agree that though the parent bird covers the eggs with sand during ttie 

 day she incubates them herself at night, and that her mate remains in attendance by 

 her.— fl^. B. Tristram in ' Ibis,' ii. 72. 



Does the Kiltiwake Breed in the Isle of Wight. In a late number (Zool. 7500), is the 

 following statement about the kiltiwake: "At Fowl's Heugh they are said to breed in 

 vast numbers, but never in the Isle of Wight, as Mr. Yarrell supposed." In his ' His- 

 tory of British Birds ' (iii. 445), Mr. Yarrell says, respecting the above bird, " This 

 gull is decidedly a rock-breeder, and very confmon in the breeding season on all the 

 rocky parts of the coast of Hampshire, Dorsetshire, Devonshire and part of Cornwall. 

 I have seen hundreds in one day in the first week in June, between the Needle Rocks 

 and Freshwater Gate in the Isle of Wight;" and in a note at p. 446 Mr. Yarrell sa_\s 

 that kiltiwakes breed every year on the cliffs of the Isle of Wight in great numbers. 

 Those who think that the mere statement in the ' Zoologist,' given without any evidence 

 in support of it, supersedes the authority of such an ornithologist as the late Mr. Yarrell 

 was, must believe one of two things, either that Mr. Yarrell did not know the kitti- 

 wake when he saw it, or that those birds frequented the Freshwater clifl"s in hundreds, 

 early in June, not for the purpose of breeding. I believe that few persons, who, like 

 myself, have been in the habit of studying Yarrell for years, testing his accuracy by 

 their own observations and experience, will think that his statements (especially wliere 

 grounded on his own personal observations) are to be got rid of by any but the strongist 

 and most unimpeachable evidence. One of his illustrations of the kitliwake, Mr. Yar- 

 rell says, was taken from an adult bird killed at the Isle of Wight early in June. It 



