OSTRICHES. 123 



shallow indentation in the sandy ground which forms 

 this simplest o£ all " homes without hands," is left un- 

 covered for a quarter of an hour, to allow the eggs to 

 cool. The sight of nests thus apparently deserted has 

 probably given rise to the erroneous idea that the 

 ostrich leaves her eggs to hatch in the sun. The 

 passage in the book of Job : " Which leaveth her eggs 

 in the earth, and warmeth them in the dust," is also 

 generally supposed to point to the same conclusion, 

 though in reality there can be no doubt that the latter 

 part of the sentence simply applies to the warming of 

 the eggs by the heat of the bird's body as she sits over 

 them in her dusty nest. Stupid though she is, she has 

 more sense than to believe in the possibility of the sun 

 hatching her eggs ; she is indeed quite aware of the fact 

 that, if allowed to blaze down on them with untempered 

 heat, even during the short time she is off the nest, it 

 would be injurious to them ; and therefore, on a hot 

 morning, she does not leave them without first placing 

 on the top of each a good pinch of sand. This she does 

 in order that the germ — which, whatever side of the 

 egg is uppermost, always rises to the highest point — 

 may be shaded and protected. Having thus set her 

 nest in order, she walks off, to fortify herself with a 

 good meal for the duties of the, day. 



And now comes the white-necked crow's chance* 

 for which, ever since at earliest dawn he drew out his 

 artful old head from under his wing, he has been 

 patiently waiting. An ostrich-egg is to him the 

 daintiest of all delicacies ; but, nature not having be- 



