ly 
change from the open wandering existence of the wild bird, free to choose 
a variety and abundance of food, to the restricted life in camps, often 
‘subject to irregularities and limitations in the food supply, can but em- 
phasize any natural weakness towards a defective plumage. The practice 
of artificial plucking as compared with the natural moulting of the 
feathers may also be an important factor, though it must always be re- 
membered that on chicks which have never been plucked barring is just 
as prevalent as on older birds. 
If we agree that barring defects are much more prevalent in the 
plumage of the ostrich than of other birds, and are produced with such 
readiness, it is manifest that their total elimination under domestication 
will be a matter of considerable difficulty, and will call for a very thor- 
ough knowledge of the responses of the bird to all the varied treatment 
and conditions to which it is subject. We have, in fact, to counteract a 
natural tendency within an animal. It is, however, clearly recognised by 
ostrich breeders that some strains are far more subject to the faults than 
others, and great advances are now being made in the selection for breed- 
ing purposes of parents in which the tendency is least pronounced; also 
the highly nutritive condition in: which superior birds are now maintained 
is doing much to counteract the evil, so that the solution of the problem 
of overcoming the tendency to faulty plumage is by no means without its 
hopefulness. Farmers are certainly acting wisely m not breeding from 
birds which show a strong tendency to bars. 
When the farmer has done his utmost to maintain his birds in the 
best feather-producing condition, there still remains the question whether 
anything can be done to supplement his efforts, to give him assistance in 
his endeavours and to render his results more certain. It is towards this 
that the experiments have been directed for some time, and encouraging 
results are being obtained. The matter is one of such complexity as to 
involve a wide experience of ostrich management, and some time must 
elapse ere the results can be announced with that assurance necessary to 
warrant their recommendation to the practical farmer. Until under ex- 
perimental conditions or actual farming practice it is possible wholly to 
eliminate the bars, it is manifest that the difficulty of analysing the 
separate barring factors and of providing against them is very great. 
Meanwhile something definite has been achieved in having settled where 
the trouble les, and one can proceed with greater assurance and hopeful- 
mess in the endeavour to overcome the difficulties presented. 
