ii8 HOME LIFE ON AN OSTRICH FARM. 



consolate widower, and all attempts to find him a 

 satisfactory second wife were unavailing ; several hens, 

 which, soon after his loss, were in succession placed in 

 his camp, being only rescued in time, and at the tackey's 

 point, from being kicked to death. The bare idea of 

 there being anything pathetic about an ostrich seems 

 absurd — and indeed this is the only instance I have 

 known of anything of the kind — but it was truly piti- 

 ful to watch this poor bird, as, day after day, and 

 nearly all day long, he wandered up and down, up and 

 down, the length of his camp, in the hard, beaten track 

 worn by his restless feet along the side of the fence. 



When his time of mourning at length came to an end, 

 and poor Joan's long- vacant place was filled, we at 

 first rejoiced. But we soon doubted whether, after all, 

 he had not been happier as a widower. For the new 

 wife, a magnificent hen, considerably above the average 

 size, had him in complete subjection; his spirit seemed 

 quite broken, probably with long fretting, and he made 

 no attempt to hold his own, but was for the rest of his 

 days the most hen-pecked — or ought I to say hen- 

 kicked? — of husbands. Some amount of stratagem 



o 



was even necessary on my part, to ensure that he had 

 enough to eat (this pair of birds, being near the house, 

 were under my special care, and during droughts were 

 daily fed by me) ; for every time he came near the food, 

 the greedy hen would persistently drive him away, 

 standing on tiptoe and hissing viciously at him— and I 

 soon saw that it was useless to attempt feeding them 

 together. But the poor, ill-used old bird and I were 



