100 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



quill, and this seems to be most frequently produced by the damp 

 coast breezes. Hens also vary in body-colour to an equal extent, 

 though, in their case, the differences are not very conspicuous, the 

 colours not being so strongly contrasted. They range from a 

 dark rich brown to light brown, grey, or ash. I have had several 

 hens with each feather ("feminas" excepted) barred across with 

 white at about a quarter of its length from the tip, and one which 

 had the perfect black plumage of a cock. 



Colour of the Unfeathered, Parts. 

 The colour of the unfeathered parts of chicks is yellow, which 

 gradually changes to flesh-colour, and, as the adult stage is 

 reached, either remains flesh-coloured, though of not so pronounced 

 a tint, or changes to bluish or leaden — nearly always bluish. 

 Variations not only in colour, but in texture, thickness, and 

 strength of the skin, are both great and frequent. The colour of 

 the neck varies also, in both sexes, from dark — nearly black in 

 the case of the cock and deep brown in the hen — to almost white. 

 The colour of the eye even varies ; generally it is brown, but 

 grey is not unknown. 



Colour of the Tarsi and Toes. 



Chicks* may be divided into two lots, of about equal number, 

 by the colour of the scales of the tarsi and toes. Some have 

 light brown scales, the others dark brown. There is no grading 

 from one tint to another ; the line of demarcation is clear and 

 unmistakable. The dark-scaled are by some farmers said to be 

 cocks, the light-scaled hens. My attention was only drawn to 

 this peculiarity shortly before retiring from Ostrich-farming ; I 

 cannot therefore express a decided opinion, not having had an 

 opportunity of testing whether the statement is correct. 



At any rate, the scales of the hens invariably remain brown, 

 but those of the cocks change to flesh-colour, varying from nearly 

 white to brilliant crimson. Cocks' legs do not often lose all 

 trace of the crimson tint, though its intensity varies with the 

 seasons, being brightest in a fat bird in the height of his sexual 

 vigour in the breeding season, and faintest when a bird is in a 



* The term chick is often used for a bird of as much as even three 

 years old. 



