OSTRICH FARMING. 
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some pluck, some cut off the feathers close to their 
insertion, some separate some of the males from the 
females about the time of incubation, and then pluck 
them. My own opinion is that the best plan is that 
adopted by a farmer in the Western District, who had 
70 or 80 ostriches, and found the plan the best and 
most convenient. To show me the process, he had the 
whole flock driven in, and we then insinuated ourselves 
by wriggling amongst the densely packed birds. He 
had previously shown me what to do in case of any bird 
proving vicious — they are perfectly in your power if 
you seize them by the neck, you may then choke them 
as far as you please until you And them powerless, and 
you can then run away. Having got with my friend 
into the middle of the crowd, so packed that they were 
unable to move, he quietly selected two or three of the 
best feathers, and with a curved sharp knife in his 
right hand, the blade protected by lying flat against 
his Auger, he pressed it down as near the root as he 
could, and cut it off obliquely upwards. The bird was 
quite unconscious of the operation, standing perfectly 
still as he handed several to me ; he then picked out a 
blood feather, very beautiful, which on being cut, bled 
a little, but the sharp knife separated it without it being 
felt. In a month or six weeks he took out all the stumps, 
if they had not already fallen out. By this means 
the health of the bird is not impaired, no irritation 
fever is produced, as in the case of my brothers birds, 
and you can select the feathers that are in prime 
condition, leaving the others to ripen in due course. 
Still the process of incubation injures a great many 
valuable feathers, and it appears, therefore, clear to me 
that some mode of artificial incubation must be 
