The migratory springbucks of South Africa (the trekbokke) : also an essay on the ostrich and a letter descriptive of the Zambesi Falls / by C.S. Cronwright-Schreiner.

  • Cronwright-Schreiner, S. C. (Samuel C.), 1863-1936.
Date:
1925
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The migratory springbucks of South Africa (the trekbokke) : also an essay on the ostrich and a letter descriptive of the Zambesi Falls / by C.S. Cronwright-Schreiner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    time unbroken and half his time on the nest at night. It will thus be seen that, not counting the hours at night when both are sleeping (the cock on the nest), the duties of incubation are very evenly divided. Protective Colouration The colour of each is admirably adapted to the time spent on the nest and furnishes interesting examples of protective colouration. It is scarcely possible to conceive a more effective disguise than the sober brownish grey of the hen for day sitting and the black of the cock for night. When on the nest, the ostrich lays its head,1 neck and tail flat along the ground ; its naked thighs are covered by the wings, the plumes lying close together on the earth almost hidden against the bird’s body. Thus only the low, long-curved body projects above the surrounding level. The cock, at night, is, of course, almost per- fectly hidden ; while the hen, at daytime, closely resembles a stone, bush, ant-heap or any little inequality of the veld. One is surprised to see how close such a large bird can lie to the ground and how even an ostrich farmer may almost walk over a sitting hen in full daylight without seeing her. The cock is simply indistinguishable at night, except to a practised eye, and then only at a few yards’ distance. It may be urged that the black 1 This habit may possibly have given rise to the old and quite wrong idea that the ostrich hides his head in the sand, thinking he is hidden, while his body is exposed !