Mystery ostrich egg placed as joke

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CHARLESTON, W.Va., Dec. 1 (UPI) -- A West Virginia man has come forward to reveal an ostrich egg discovered in the woods in Charleston was placed in a tree as a joke.

Herbert Herold, 40, said a friend gave him a pair of ostrich eggs and he took one that was cracked and placed it in the fork of a tree in the woods on his way home Nov. 20, the Charleston (W.Va.) Daily Mail reported Tuesday.

Herold said his brother told him the egg was gone from the tree a few days later and he assumed it had been taken by an animal until he read a story in Thursday's Daily Mail about Sherman Farley, who discovered the 4.5-pound egg on the ground while deer hunting.

Herold came forward and revealed his joke in response to the questions that arose from Farley's discovery.

"I put it there for my brother, or whoever, to find while hunting," Herold said. "I was just being ornery. I'm always doing stuff like that."