HATCHING EXTRAORDINARY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1569, 28 December 1883, Page 2

HATCHING EXTRAORDINARY.

A* curious incident took place at a large ostrich farm near Swan-hill, on the Murray River, the other day, Hen ostriches, it may bo said,lay from twelve to sixteen eggs, which.are only hatched after sixty-two days' con-, tinuous sitting. There was at this farm a hen sitting; on • twelve eggs, and she had been satisfactorily /performing her duties for nearly forty, days, when, sad to" say, was suddenly seizod with some disease that ostrich flesh is heir to, and died in .the course of a few hours. Instead of,- grieving over the irrevocable, the proprietor of the farm, grasping ■. the, situation iu a'moment, and knowing, that if the eggs were left the whole of the thirtynine days' sitting would" go: for nought, he determined to make an effort to counteract the untimely loss of the hen bird. 'So summoning his family and servants . about him, he rapidly explained the .state of 1 affairs, and then hastily serving - out 'an egg a-piece to the twelve members of his domestic circle; he thought, could be best trusted, he bade them all to hurry off to their beds and to remain there until he gave them permission' .to get up again. It was rather, a trying ordeal. Three days' and three nights' continuous bed, and in the hot season too! But the end j ustified the means, and the fact that no less, than ten healthy young birds were in consequence added to the stock oil the farm proved the value of the proprietor's suddenly formed determination.