MR. J. H. WALTER ON A VISIT TO AN EGYPTIAN OSTRICH FARM. 351 
but the hen very quickly showed us how objectionable our presence 
was, and the keeper had to close the door in a hurry. The eggs 
are also hatched out in incubators ; twenty-four being placed in 
each incubator, the water being kept at a temperature of 39° C., 
anti changed every third day. After about forty-live days the 
chicks begin to hatch out, but, as far as I could gather, very rarely 
more than half the eggs are productive. 
As the land on which the farm stands is practically desert, and 
consequently nearly all sand, chalk is put into the pens where there 
are laying bens. When they have fresh eggs to spare, they charge 
4s. each for them, and 3s. for a shell. The feathers are plucked 
in May, and it takes live or six men to throw an Ostrich and bind 
it with ropes before the process begins. Small feathers are taken 
from birds of two years old, and at four years a black and white 
bird will produce feathers to the value of .£8, while those of a grey 
bird are not usually worth more than £ 6 . The food provided 
consists chiefly of chopped clover, beans, and bran. All the birds 
at this farm originally came from the Sudan. 
I finished my visit by going up some steps in the main building 
in the centre of the farm, from the roof of which I was able to 
sec almost at the same time 1 450 Ostriches, a sight I shall not 
easily forget. 
