HATCHING EXTRAORDINARY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 31, 5 January 1884, Page 2

HATCHING EXTRAORDINARY.

A envious incident tbbi'place at a large farm near Swan-hill, on the Murray River, the other day. Hen ostriches, it may bo. said, lay fvom twelve to sixteen : eggs, whioli are only hatched after forty-two days' Qoutitououa sitting. There was- at this farm a- hen siting on! twelve eggs, and' she had been satisfactorily .performing her duties for nearly forxy "day?, who i, sad to say, she was suddenly seized with some disease that ostpicn flesh is heir to, and died m the course of a~few hours. Instead of grieving over, the irrevocable, the prbpiietbrof the /arm, grasping the situation : in a moment, and knowing that if the eggs wersjieft tho whole of the thirty-nine days* sitting would go for naught,, he determined to make an effort to counteract the untimely loss of the ; hen bii'd: So summoning.hio family and servants abonfe him, he' rapidly explained the stat* off affaire, arid. then hastily serving oat an egg a-piejee^to the twelve members of his domestic circle he thought could be best trusted, He baJe them all to- hurry off to their, beds 'and to . remain there until he^ gave them permission to get ■up ! again, It Was, rathey a trying ordeal. Three days' "' and three : riights* continuous bed, ■ and "m the hot, season too ! But the end justified the nieaiiSj and the fact that no less than ten healthyyonngbirds were'in consequence added to the stock on the farnr proved the yalue of the "proprietor's suddenly formed determination. '