180 WILD ANIMAL CELEBRITIES 



birds, and George showed a good deal of 

 genuine temper on these occasions. 



For forty days George kept this up, his 

 wife dutifully sitting on the eggs (each of 

 which weighed three pounds) by day, and he 

 doing the same by night. This is really a 

 wonderful provision of Nature, because in 

 their native state, the drab-like color of the 

 female blends with the sand, and the dark 

 color of the male bird is not so noticeable at 

 night. 



At the end of the forty days curious little 

 creatures of about twelve inches high crept 

 out of the shells, looking something like bits 

 of old feather dusters. And just as soon as 

 they were hatched neither George nor Martha 

 took any further notice of them or the nest. 

 "When in their native state the young birds 

 are very often trampled to death by their par- 

 ents, who are always clumsy and stupid birds, 

 but on this farm in California the young birds 

 are put into a corral of young tender alfalfa 

 hay by day, and securely housed by them- 

 selves at night, so this danger is avoided. 



