ACCLIMATISATION AND BREEDING 207 
Three years ago at the beginning of October there arrived 
at my animal park a number of young ostriches from Africa. 
Instead of being placed as usual in closed and heated build- 
ings they were left out in a large yard in which a wooden hut 
had been set up asa shelter. During the whole winter the 
birds were kept in this yard and did very well, although the 
temperature several times reached 20° of frost. On the rst 
January, 1906, when they were out at about 30° of frost, I 
noticed that some of them actually took the opportunity to 
give themselves baths in the snow. A cassowary, which was 
kept close by, likewise passed through the winter without harm. 
In 1907, six young ostriches about three and a half feet high 
arrived, and they also stood the winter very well. Inthe autumn 
we happened to receive half a dozen adult ostriches which had 
become so weak on the journey that they had to be carried 
out of their cages by their keepers. Nevertheless they were 
placed in the yard with the rest, and after a few hours in the 
open they had recovered sufficiently to be driven into th 
shelter hut with their comrades. 
The hut is, of course, so arranged that the birds can go into 
it at any moment, should they be so inclined. For purposes 
of ventilation the windows of the hut are kept open day and 
night, so that there is little relief from the outer cold. The 
only furniture provided is a layer of turf and a plentiful supply 
of straw. Only for one week during the winter were the birds 
kept shut up in this hut, and that was simply on account of the 
ice on which they are so liable to slip that it brings them into 
great danger. During this period it is true that several acci- 
dents occurred. One ostrich had its leg broken while running 
about in the hut. Another died from the effects of a kick by 
one of its comrades. A third belied the common proverb 
about the digestion of ostriches. It swallowed eleven copper 
nails about one and a half inches long and also one of about 
four inches long, but instead of surviving and flourishing, as it 
ought to have done, it died through the nails piercing the wall 
of the stomach. But at no time did any accident occur on 
