756 
THE WILD OSTRICH 
that the wild ostrich is polygamous. 
Yet in the next paragraph but one he 
states that both cock and hen sit on 
the eggs, and that the eock sits on the 
nest ‘from about four o’clock in the 
afternoon until about eight o’clock 
next morning, approximately sixteen 
hours.’ This must mean that the cock 
broods all the eggs of all the hens at 
the same time; for, of course, if the 
cock has more than one hen, he cannot 
spend two thirds of each twenty-four 
hours on each hen’s separate nest. I 
came across only six or eight cases of 
nesting ostriches and ostriches with 
broods while I was in Africa. In each 
case there was only a pair of birds, a 
cock and a hen; it was only a pair and 
always a pair that did the brooding of 
the eggs, and only a pair and always a 
pair that led the chicks when hatched. 
Of course, this does not mean that poly¬ 
gamy may not occur; but inasmuch as 
both the cock and the hen sit on the 
eggs, and as the sitting cock can hardly 
cover all the eggs of both or all the 
hens, polygamy must radically inter¬ 
fere with the normal habits in this 
respect — and [accurate and extended 
observations on wild birds ought to be 
a preliminary to generalizations on the 
subject. 
Mr. Scully says that the nesting hab¬ 
its offer ‘ an undoubted instance of pro¬ 
tective coloration. The cock, being jet- 
black, cannot be seen at night; the hen, 
which sits throughout the greater part 
of the day, is more or less the color of 
the desert sand. She thus attains a 
maximum of invisibility while on the 
nest.’ This is certainly a misreading of 
the facts, — even if the facts are ob¬ 
served correctly, — and is probably a 
failure to observe them correctly. In 
Africa I came across wild-ostrich nests 
live times, always toward noon — that 
is, between nine in the morning and 
three in the afternoon. In three cases 
the hen was on the eggs, in two cases, 
the cock. The cock which I shot and 
which is in the National Museum at 
Washington was one of these birds 
which I, by accident, put up from sit¬ 
ting on its eggs toward midday. Of 
course, five instances are not sufficient 
to generalize from, but they do war¬ 
rant further examination of the subject 
before making dogmatic assertions as 
to the cock always sitting at night and 
the hen always in the daytime. My 
own observations were that the two 
sexes sat alternately, and indifferently, 
during both night and day. Nor are 
my own observations the only ones to 
bear out this view. In Selous’s Travel 
and Adventure, page 463, he speaks of 
a hen ostrich being shot ‘as she was 
returning to her nest just at sunset.’ 
In Stewart Edward White’s Rediscov¬ 
ered Country, page 123, he describes a 
return to camp after a morning’s hunt, 
and says, ‘Near camp caught sight of 
a queer-looking black hump, sticking 
out of the tall grass. When near, it 
suddenly unfolded into a cock ostrich 
and departed. We found twenty-eight 
eggs.’ 
Moreover, even if the rule laid down 
by Mr. Scully on this^subject proves to 
apply generally, his interpretation of 
the rule is certainly erroneous. Pro¬ 
tective coloration is a relative matter. 
Under the conditions which Mr. Scully 
describes, the cock ostrich is practical¬ 
ly always revealingly colored, as com¬ 
pared to the hen, and his coloration is of 
a highly advertising type. Mr. Scully 
says that the hen is colored like the 
desert sand, and therefore attains the 
maximum of invisibility (compared 
to the cock) when on the nest. This 
is true; and it is almost as true at night 
as in the daytime. Under most con¬ 
ditions, and normally, the cock is 
more easily seen at night than the hen. 
Cloudy nights are very rare in the 
desert: half the time it is moonlight; 
and then the cock is almost as reveal- 
