144 



SUBKINGDOM VERTEBRATA. 



for its beautiful plumes, which have been prized as an adorn 

 ment from time immemorial. 



Mg. 2UL 



Struthho camUus^ African Ostrich. 



riders, and by pursuing in a straigiit line while the bird runs in a curve. One male 

 accompanies two to six females who lay in one nest. The bens take turns in sitting 

 during the day, thus enabling the others to travel the long distances necessary to get 

 food in that desert country, without leaving the nest uncovered. The male assumes 

 the task of incubation at night when his superior strength is needed to drive ofl 

 prowling animals, which are sometimes found lying dead near the nest, killed by its 

 powerful kick. As the young cnnnot for some time go far, or digest the hard food 

 of the old ones, the females continue to lay extra eggs for their nourishment. In 

 this entire system of incubation one can but see the nice planning of a Creator, 

 fruitful in methods for meeting an end by varied means.— An Ostrich e^g is equal to 

 two dozen of those of the domestic hen. It is cooked by placing one end in the hot 

 ashee^ and making a small orifice in the other, stirring the contents with a bit of 

 stick till the omelette is roasted.— In Cape Colony there are now Ostrich-farms 

 where these birds are reared for their plumes, which are plucked every eight months. 



