180 REMARKS ON A RECENT PROPOSAL TO INTRODUCE OSTRICHES. 



confinement, scratches out a shallow depression in the ground, 

 generally in some such unsuitable spot as the dry bed of an 

 occasional water-course. The eggs vary to some extent in 

 number, and on farms where natural nesting is preferred all 

 over about twenty are removed. 



There has been much difference of opinion as to the rival 

 merits of leaving this process of hatching to the birds or 

 saving them the duty by the use of incubators, but I am 

 inclined to support the view that a larger percentage of 

 chickens and stronger birds are secured by the former 

 method. It is essential, however, that an incubator should 

 be amongst the appliances of every ostrich farm for use in 

 emergencies. 



As in the wild state, the male performs an equal share of 

 incubation with the female, who, being less conspicuous than 

 her consort, remains on the eggs for the greater part of the 

 day, the male sitting during the night, his turn of duty 

 lasting from about four p.m. until early the next morning. 

 At the proper hour the male grazes in the direction of the nest 

 in an apparently indifferent manner until the hen, suddenly 

 rising, runs some distance at a rapid pace, frequently 

 changing her direction. At once he is on the eggs, and 

 almost concealed, she having momentarily attracted the 

 attention of onlookers. Much care is exercised by ostriches 

 to conceal their nests, and it is surprising how inconspicuous 

 the birds are when, surrounded by the low bushes of the veldt, 

 they crouch over the eggs with their long necks extended on 

 the ground. 



It is not uncommon for one of the birds to refuse further 

 duty at any stage of the hatching process, when the other, 

 either male or female, may remain faithful to its instincts and, 

 unaided, patiently complete the necessary period. The 

 vitality of the embryo chick is remarkable. In my own 

 experience I have in the early morning taken home eggs 

 which had been exposed all night to a severe frost, and after- 

 wards succeeded in hatching them in a box before the fire. 



During natural incubation the eggs are liable to destruction 

 by the many enemies of the ostrich, as are also the young 

 birds for some time after hatching. Jackalls, baboons, 

 hawks, and crows attack either eggs or chicks, whilst should' 

 an adult bird resent the appearance of a porcupine in its 

 camp, it may be lamed for lifeby kicking against so efficiently 

 armed an animal. It is no fiction that crows, unable to break 

 and feast on the eggs by other means, pick up stones with 

 their feet, and hovering perpendicularly over the nests, drop 

 their missiles with destructive effect. They destrov tortoises 

 in a somewhat similar manner: the reptile is itself raised 

 into the air — a rock the target. What truth there may be in 

 the assertion that a crow so encumbered cannot fly horizontally, 



