100 OSTRICH FARMING. 
females. Of 60 eggs, 19 were destroyed by black 
crows, which were seen from the house to hover over 
the nest and let stones fall on the eggs (on running up 
on one occasion to the nest, about 600 yards off, he 
found three stones in the nest, the eggs cracked, and 
the yolk strewed about) ; 41 were sent to the adjoining 
farm, Hilton, to be artificially incubated, but these failed, 
probably from having been shaken, although they 
were carried in baskets on the heads of native women. 
He has received £ 1,450 for his feathers, plucking 
them every eight months, selecting the ripe feathers 
only, and plucking about sixty at a time. He 
finds it injures the bird and produces irritation 
fever to pluck too many at once. His experience 
leads him to the opinion that the ostrich cannot stand 
exposure to wet or cold. This farm is rather higher 
(about 200 ft. or 300 ft.) than the other two, and there- 
fore, perhaps, colder. The next farm, Hilton, is like 
the table farm adjoining it, on the junction between 
the sandstones of the Lunberg and the schists and trap 
conglomerate formation, mixed veldt, partly sour 
and partly sweet grass — the soil rich in alkalies, which 
often effervesce on the surface, in the hollows. On 
Hilton, Mr. Arthur Hughes has now 71 birds, kept 
in an inclosure of 300 acres, in good condition and 
requiring very little artificial food. They lay well, and 
do not appear to suffer from exposure to wet or cold, 
although they have no shelter. He commenced about 
three years ago with eleven birds ; he has now 71 ; he 
has successfully hatched 70 — 40 artificially in the 
incubator. They have paired and hatched their young 
in the natural state, which has enabled him to watch 
them, and he has thus acquired much valuable informa- 
