shells are very thick and strong and the Africans use them for water
vessels."

"Do they have nests to lay their eggs in, like our chickens?" asked Ned.

"They do not take the pains in building a nest that most other birds do,"
replied his father, "but merely scoop a hole in the sand. One male usually
appropriates to himself from two to seven females and each hen lays ten
eggs--so it is supposed--all in the same nest, and each egg is stood up on
end."

"It must take a big, big nest to hold them; such great big eggs as you say
they are, papa!"

"Yes, and generally there are some to be found lying on the sand outside
of the nest; perhaps laid there by hens who came to lay in it but found
another in possession; one who had got there before them."

"I have often heard or read that the ostrich leaves her eggs lying in the
sand to be hatched by the heat of the sun," remarked Evelyn.

"Perhaps she does in those very hot countries," said the exhibitor, "but
not in California; though, as I've been telling you, she makes the male
bird do the most of the setting."

"Maybe that's because the eggs are all his, but don't all belong to any of
the females," laughed Walter.

"Perhaps that is it, sir," returned the man.