166 
THE SOCIETY’S OSTRICHES. 
was unfortunately sustained. During the journey a week 
of one of the heaviest rains which has ever occurred in 
Victoria overtook them ; the waggons conveying them 
were delayed, and the last week on the road proved fatal 
to several. Of the three hen birds which safely arrived 
here, one unfortunately escaped from the enclosure they 
were placed in, through the negligence of a workman 
employed about them in leaving a gate open, and imme- 
diately after the bird, running into a wire fence, was 
killed upon the spot. 
Another, the only tame bird of the flock, was old and 
worn out, and died after laying her first and only egg. 
The third hen, the only one left from which to rear a flock, 
and upon which all the hopes of ultimate success now 
solely depended, was fortunately strong and healthy, and 
from this bird alone has been raised the present promising 
little flock. 
On their first arrival at Murray Downs the birds were 
extremely wild (excepting only the old hen), and could 
not be approached in the large yard in which they were 
kept without evidencing great fear, and rushing violently 
about the enclosure. By perseverance, constantly seeing 
people, and daily feeding, this timidity at length quite 
disappeared, and as soon as practicable they were removed 
into a secure and properly sheltered paddock, of suitable 
size, and specially erected for them, and the daily feeding 
and watering continued the same as previously in the 
smaller enclosure. 
Early in the summer the hen bird laid her first nest of 
eggs, and as we had by this time obtained from the Cape a 
patent Douglass Incubator, at a cost of about £100, it was 
determined to try the eggs in this instead of leaving them 
to the natural process, where the risk of losing all from so 
many outside causes was so great. 
