170 
THE SOCIETY’S OSTRICHES. 
3 old cocks 
1 old ken 
6 birds, about 20 months old, classed thus — 
4 healthy — 2 males, 2 females 
2 diseased — 1 male, 1 female 
6 birds, about 15 months old, all healthy — 
4 males, 2 females 
3 birds, about 7 months old, classed thus — 
2 healthy, females apparently 
1 diseased, female apparently 
19 Total. 
The process of hatching the eggs and rearing the young 
chicks by the old birds themselves, entirely destroys the 
large and delicate white feathers, which in the tail and 
wings of the cock, at another time and in his natural 
condition, unfettered by the restraints of man, are so 
perfect and graceful. After the sitting these feathers are 
useless for purposes of sale, and the parent birds, as far as 
the production of feathers is concerned, are a source of no 
profit. 
The period of incubation we have found to vary from 
30 to 35 days in eggs placed under the birds themselves, 
and in the incubator from 40 to 45 days. Whence this 
immense variation arises we are unable to say, but it is 
often a source of no small difficulty in dealing with the 
young chicks as they come out. The parent birds sit 
alternately on the eggs and watch over them with the 
most assiduous care, never leaving them for more than a 
very few minutes uncovered. In general, as soon as one 
rises from the nest the other at once takes its place, and 
sometimes both may be seen sitting together. 
The first egg is laid on the bare ground without any 
apparent previous selection of site or attempt at preparing 
