182 EEMAEKS ON A RECENT PROPOSAL TO INTRODUCE OSTRICHES. 



birds themselves.. A small yard or enclosure is so closely 

 packed with ostriches that they are quite unable to move 

 and therr only means of defence, by kicking, is prevented 

 A man can then go amongst them with impunity and 

 spreading m turn the wings of each bird with a small pair of 

 self-opening garden nippers, he severs the quills of two or 

 three feathers at a time, passing the plumes as cut to his 

 assistant. The first row of the wing flights of the male bird 

 about 24 in number, are pure white, as also are the second 

 and sometimes the third rows, but those with grey or brown 

 edges are remarkably handsome, and all, even the small body 

 feathers, are marketable. After being some time in the yards 

 the birds becoming used to their surroundings neck per 

 sistently at any shining object, and frequently at the ears of 

 the operators : all studs, bright metal buttons, etc., should 

 be removed before commencing such work. One peck is a 

 trifling circumstance, but many repetitions of it on the same 

 spot occasion considerable pain : sore ears for some time 

 afterwards has invariably been my experience after a day in 

 the yards. In addition to this the birds swarm with vermin 

 which does not enhance the pleasure of the work. Sometimes 

 it may be found impossible to get a male bird of savage 

 disposition into the clipping pen, and then, and then onlv is 

 the practice of pulling the feathers resorted to, for he must 

 be caught and held whenever a favourable opportunity 

 presents itself He may perhaps expose his neck to £ 

 seized and held fast over a fence, a second man can now 

 approach from behind and pluck the feathers, returning to a 

 place of safety with as much expedition as possible 

 _ Most of the profit made in the earlier days of ostrich breed 

 mg was by the sale of young birds for stocking other farms 

 The prices realised were astonishing, and well paired mature 

 birds could hardly be purchased except at prohibitory rates 

 In 1881 chickens, as soon as hatched, sold for =85 a-piece • at 



§£ e Tf tha ° ld ', f ° r £1 ° ; and at 12 mont H for .£20 or 

 Z-\ , •, ° De SaIe tllirteen ] °ts of mated birds, some of 

 which had commenced laying, realised from ,£125 to £99(i 

 per pair. These were from six to eighteen years of ate 

 One exceptionally prolific pair were considered by tbfir 

 owner to have been worth quite ,£400 a year to him for 

 several years in succession; for they reared four broods of 

 Chickens in thirteen months, all of which found a ready 

 market at £10 per head. Feathers, of course, vary in vTlue 

 exceedingly, according to quality, and are subject to grea? 

 fluctuations in price In the halcyon days of this description 

 of farming the best blood feathers, of which about S 

 weigh lib were worth from £40 to £60 per lb., or more than 

 their weight m gold, and a domesticated adult bird vielded 

 each year a crop worth nearly £20. ' ULU 



