188 WILD ANIMAL CELEBRITIES 



cial interest in the young ones. "We often 

 take chicks and eggs just about to hatch 

 from a nest while the parent birds eat at the 

 feed box seemingly having no interest in the 

 robbery that is being perpetrated. 



"In Africa, where each pair of birds is 

 allowed about ten acres of veldt to forage 

 over, there are no boundaries and yet each 

 pair seems to settle definitely where their ter- 

 ritory begins and ends. "Whenever anyone 

 crosses the imaginary border he is imme- 

 diately attacked by the male bird who lords 

 it over that particular tract, and it is neces- 

 sary while crossing the disputed ground to 

 keep the bird at a safe distance by means of 

 a thorny stick; just as soon as the trespasser 

 steps over the line which the ostrich has fixed 

 upon as being the boundary of his domain he 

 immediately retires, and the attack is taken 

 up by his neighbor and so one is conducted 

 by each ruler in turn. 



' ' The popular idea that the ostrich hides his 

 head in the sand and then imagines himself 

 invisible is not correct ; it has probably arisen 



