100 LITTLE FOLKS 
water. A native woman takes a bag full of shells which have only 
one hole in them, carrying it off on her back, and returning in the 
same way with the shells full. 
Of late years people have taken to raising Ostriches, as we 
raise chickens. They collect the eggs from the nest, hatch them 
in ovens, and bring up the young birds by hand. Of course they 
are perfectly tame, and are kept in large yards, with only a 
common fence around. Either because they have no wild mother 
to teach them, or because they are contented where they are, they 
never try to cross the fence. When grown they are worth one or 
two hundred dollars each. There must be something about slavery 
uncongenial to development, for the domestic Ostrich feathers are 
never so fine as those that grow on their wild brethren. 
The Ostrich eats grain, roots and grass, and has a fancy for 
stones, bits of brick, nails and such things. This isn't so strange 
as it would be in you, for he needs them to help cut up the food in 
his gizzard. Whereas, you have teeth to cut yours, and no gizzard 
at all. 
This handsome bird is said to be somewhat vain, strutting 
about in the sun, fanning himself with his wings, and seeming to 
admire himself very much. I don't know as he can be blamed 
very much for that, for he is a splendid fellow — as I said in the 
beginning. 
The bird in the picture is not the African Ostrich. It is 
the American Ostrich, or the Nandu, and its home is in South 
America. 
There's one curious thing about the Nandu family — the father 
takes care of the house, or nest, making it himself, sitting on 
the eggs, and taking care of the little ones. He makes the nest in 
some quiet place among bushes, or weeds, and it consists of a 
shallow hole, with dried grass laid in it. When the nest is ready 
the anxious Papa kindly allows his wives — of which he has six or 
seven by the way — to lay eggs in it, till there are as many as he 
chooses to take care of — some writers say fifteen or sixteen, and 
others thirty or forty. You can believe which you please When 
there are as many as he likes, he takes possession of the nursery, 
and his wives politely retire to some distance, though not very far, 
while he does his sitting. He is very faithful, sticking to the nest 
till he is almost run over before he will leave, and only leaving it 
when the sun is hot. 
