102 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the Cape Ostriches are the progeny of birds brought down from 

 " The Interior" — the Kalahari Desert, Damaraland, and beyond. 

 There is, I think, little doubt that all South African Ostriches 

 are of one species ; individual variations, accentuated by local 

 differences of food and climate, are quite sufficient to account 

 for all supposed varieties. I do not think that, on the evidence 

 which I have been able to gather, there is any justification for 

 maintaining that there is more than one species of Ostrich. 



The Egg and Flesh of the Ostrich. 

 The Ostrich hen lays every other day, and the egg weighs 

 about three pounds ; it is a tasty and nutritious food however 

 prepared, very rich, and excellent for making pastry and cakes. 

 It is generally computed to be equal to two dozen fowls' eggs ; but 

 this must be on account of its superior richness, for, from per- 

 sonal experiment, the empty shell of a fairly large one exactly 

 held the contents of eighteen fowls' eggs. It takes about forty 

 minutes to boil an Ostrich egg hard. The period of incubation 

 is about six weeks. The flesh of the chick, if well prepared, is 

 excellent, but that of an old bird is tough and insipid. The 

 Ostrich is, however, never killed for food, and is very rarely 

 eaten, except by native servants. 



Its Breast-bone and Powers of Kicking. 

 The breast-bone of the Ostrich is of great thickness and 

 strength, and of course keelless. Its lower edge has a hard pad, 

 which must be useful to this heavy, long-legged bird when it 

 bumps down to the recumbent position. It is obvious that the 

 great weight and speed of the Ostrich, and its liability to collide 

 against objects on the ground over which, when frightened, it 

 makes its headlong indiscriminate way, would need that it be 

 protected in front. Its thick convex sternum, almost devoid of 

 flesh, is a most effective safeguard. As an instance of this, 

 I have seen an Ostrich, at great speed, run against and snap a 

 No. 6 fencing- wire, striking it with its breast ; in the same way I 

 have seen a sneeze-wood pole (a very tough wood used in wire- 

 fencing), four inches in diameter at its thinnest end, broken just 

 where it emerged from the ground ; and a chick about eighteen 

 months old run against a loose badly-built stone wall two feet in 



