THE OSTBICH. 117 



In a troop of young birds the sexes are about evenly balanced, 

 and, presumably, in the wild state this balance is not much 

 disturbed. But there probably is a preponderance of hens, even 

 in the wild state, for, in the breeding season, the cocks fight 

 among themselves, occasionally with fatal results. In domesti- 

 cation, the preponderance of hens is no doubt greater, for cocks 

 are not only killed by kicking at each other through wire fences, 

 thus breaking their legs, but also occasionally by people they 

 attack. In domestication, neither all cocks nor all hens come 

 into season ; but, as the cocks that are killed are among the most 

 vigorous and mettlesome, the proportion also of hens that come 

 into season is greater than that of cocks. 



Unattached Hens, 



When a cock is ready to breed, he pairs with one hen, and 

 with her makes the nest. If they escape the intrusion of other 

 hens, this state of monogamy continues, and chicks result ; if 

 they do not, polygamy will probably take place, almost always 

 with disastrous consequences to the nest. 



Now, there are other hens in season, and being in excess of 

 the cocks (who have already mated), they are unattached, 

 having no cock to mate with. They surrender to any cock, 

 and are thus fertilised. So excited and overwrought are they, 

 that tame hens will often squat on the approach of a man. 

 Having no nests of their own (only one case of a hen unaided 

 making a nest has come under my observation), they lay their 

 eggs in other hens' nests, each generally keeping to the nest she 

 first selects ; or they drop their eggs at random about the veld, 

 this habit no doubt helping to give rise to the old Biblical belief, 

 persisting to the present day, that the Ostrich leaves her eggs in 

 the sand to hatch by the heat of the sun. 



Herein, I think, to a great extent lies the true explanation of 

 the so-called association of several hens with one cock, giving 

 rise to the idea of polygamy. The cock is polygamous, it would 

 seem, not so much from any free choice of his own as because 

 the hens are forced upon him. 



