34 EINAR LÖNNBERG, BIRDS. 



bators. The Ostriches are driven out on the pastures in the morning and back again to 

 the fenced »borna » in the evening by a hired native boy. 



The greatest danger to a successful Ostrich-farming are the Lions which appear to 

 have a very strong liking for Ostrich-meat. This seems the more stränge as a Lion probab- 

 ly never, or at least very seldom is able to secure any of tliese watchful and wary birds 

 in a wild state. I heard, however, several reports about Ostrich-bomas in different places 

 having been raided by Lions. In the beginning of April this year for instance, five Lions 

 broke into an Ostrich-boma near the railroad station Kilima Kin and killed about 50 

 Ostriches. So eager were these Lions to eat the Ostrich-meat that they returned the 

 two following nights so that a Lion was killed within the borna the second and the third 

 morning. 



Ostrich-cocks are sometimes bad-tempered and dangerous during the rutting season. 

 This is also the case with the East African race, and I saw not far from Nairobi a big cock 

 bird of this kind with two heavy iron rings round the legs just above the tarsal joint 

 connected by a iron chain to prevent it from kicking. 



Struthio molyb dophanes Rchw. 



Rchw. I, p. 12. 



Through the courtesy of His Excellency the then Acting Governor of Brit. East- 

 Africa F. J. Jackson T had obtained permission to shoot a pair of Ostriches outside the 

 settled districts. I did not get any opportunity of using this licence before I had come 

 to the acacia-steppe south of Guaso Nyiri near Lekiundu river. The 9 th of Febr. I saw 

 there a very beautiful old Cock-Ostrich in full plumage in company with a young imma- 

 ture male and succeeded in stalking them up to a distance of 280 yards when the adult bird 

 was killed with a Mauser bullet. The following notes were made in the diary on the spöt: 



From the tip of bill to toe in a straight line 303 cm. 



» » » » the beginning of the feathers of tlie neck in front ... 60 » 



» latter place to the base of the neck 57 » 



» » » anterior margin of the horny plate of the breast 27 » 



» » » hindmargin of the pelvic horny plate 99 » 



» » » root of the tail 22 » 



Neck blue; corner of mouth pink, naked parts on belly and tighs bluish grey. Bill 

 pink except the tip which is horny white below, horny brown above and along the margin 

 to the nostrils. Iris greyish white. The 15 upper tarsal plates red, below those the plates 

 on the tarsus and the toes are black, toes otherwise grey. 



The testidés contained ripe sperms, their dimensions were 14 X 17 V2 cm. The 

 gizzard was 20 x 17 cm. The ventricle contained vegetable matter of different kinds, 

 some parts rather coarse and wooden being remains of twigs of bushes. Among recogniz- 

 able remains were found some round yellow fruits of Solanum (?). In addition to the 

 food material there was a great number of pebbles and stones most of which were of white 

 quartz, ouly comparatively few were black. This appeared very stränge to me then, be- 

 cause every stone was black in the country where the Ostrich had been shot. Some days 

 låter I found the explanation of the presence of the quartzpebbles in the Ostrich. About 



