296 cassell's book of birds. 



e\-ery\vhere to be met with ; they seem to be produced by females obliged to lay before the male has 

 been able to make preparations for their reception. The nest is generally a shallow excavation in 

 some dry spot of ground beyond the reach of inundation, and usually so placed as to be concealed 

 by thistles and long grass. A very favourable locality is in holes made by the wild cattle, who use 

 them as a kind of dust-bed, wherein they shelter themselves against the attacks of insects, until they 

 liave worn, them so deep as to be larger than convenient for themselves, but exactly suited to the 

 requirements of the male Nandu. Should, however, no such ready-made excavation present itself, 

 the bird must perforce undertake the necessary labour of clearing a space of ground of the over- 

 growing vegetation, lining it scantily \vith dried grass, a ring of which material always surrounds the 

 margin, and thus preparing it for the reception of the eggs. The number of eggs laid by each female 

 has been a subject of much dispute. Azara relates that at times seventy or eighty eggs have been 

 found in a single nest, while Darwin gives forty or fifty as the greatest number. Booking tells us, on 

 the authority of the Guachos, that fifty eggs have been met with, although he himself never saw more 

 than twenty-three, and gives from thirteen to seventeen as an average number from all the nests he 

 examined. The eggs themselves appear to be very variable in size, some being not much larger than 

 those of a Goose, while others measure five inches in length. Around the nest, in a space extending 

 from its margin to a distance of fifty paces, " foundlings" are always to be met with, and these appear 

 to be fresher than the eggs within the nest. The colour of the eggs is a dull yellowish white, marked 

 with small, greenish yellow dots, placed around the large pores. If exposed to the sun, these colours 

 rapidly fade, insomuch that after a week's exposure the egg-shells are all snow-white. 



As soon as the nest has received its full complement, the male alone undertakes the duties of 

 incubation, the hens all retiring to a distance ; nevertheless, they generally keep together, and always 

 remain within the territory previously claimed by the master of the family. During the night, and 

 until the morning dew has been dried up, the male never leaves his place upon the nest, but in the 

 daytime he allows himself greater liberty, and may be seen feeding at irregular intervals, that depend 

 upon the brightness of the sky or the temperature of the weather. Towards the commencement of 

 incubation the male Nandu appears rather careless of his charge, and upon the slightest alarm will 

 leave his nest until the danger is past ; but at a later period he broods very assiduously, and will 

 sometimes sit still till he is nearly ridden over, springing up suddenly, immediately before the unwary 

 traveller, often frightening a spirited horse, and putting his rider in great danger. Neither does the 

 brood always escape the consequences of such precipitancy, some of the eggs being frequently trodden 

 iipon and crushed, or kicked out of the nest by the frantic bird. The affection of the male Nandu 

 for his- offspring is, however, more conspicuously visible when a traveller approaches his brooding- 

 place in a more leisurely manner. On such occasions the anxious parent hastens to meet the 

 intruder, mth wings outspread and ruffled feathers, limping slowly along and staggering in a zigzag 

 course, using every endeavour to divert the attention of the stranger from the real cause of anxiety. 



Although the sitting Nandu is by no means fond of visitors, he will not desert the eggs so long 

 as his nest is not actually disturbed^ and has even been known to continue sitting upon the residue 

 after some of the eggs Imve been taken away. In South America the young Nandus make their 

 appearance from the egg-shell about the beginning of February. Their growth is surprisingly rapid, 

 insomuch, indeed, that chicks of a fortnight old are already a foot and a half high. Even on the third 

 or fourth day after they are hatched it would be difficult for a man to overtake them in running, were 

 it not that when hotly pursued, young birds have a habit of falling flat upon the ground, where they 

 easily escape observation. For about five weeks they follow their father only, but the female parents 

 gradually join the party until the family is complete. By the arrival of autumn, i.e., in April or May, 

 the young birds have exchanged their first clothing of down for a suit of dirty, yellowish grey feathers. 



