132 HOME LIFE ON AN OSTRICH FARM. 



his return I should present him with some sixty cooked 

 birds, that I set an alarum every night for two o'clock, 

 to assure myself that the temperature was playing me 

 no tricks. 



When within about eight or ten days of hatching, 

 the chick can be felt moving about in the egg ; and 

 later on, when nearly ready to come out, he is heard 

 squeaking, and tapping with his bill against the shell. 

 Then at last, one day, when you come to turn the eggs 

 in the finisher, where they are placed for the last fort- 

 night, you find one with a hole in it — generally a 

 three-cornered piece is knocked clean out — and in the 

 opening a pinkish, soft-looking bill is making impatient 

 movements, and a bright eye is peeping at you as 

 knowingly as though already well acquainted with all 

 the ways of a world on which its owner has yet to 

 3nter. An ostrich, by the way, seems far more intelli- 

 gent as a baby than he ever is in after life. 



A strong chick is generally able to free himself, by 

 his own unaided efforts, from the shell ; but if after a 

 certain number of hours he is not out, it becomes 

 necessary to assist him. This, however, requires ex- 

 treme gentleness and caution, as there is great risk of 

 inflicting injury ; and, although I have helped many 

 young ostriches into the world — losing but one patient 

 in all my practice — I always preferred leaving that 

 delicate work to nature. And yet there is something 

 so tempting about these little half-opened parcels ; one 

 always longs to undo them and have a full view of the 

 contents. The moment the little fellow is out of the 



