The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1872-04-04
Habits Of tie Ostrich.

There has long. existed belief that
the oettich, Contrary f9 the eh@actor of
all other birds, ,is ehreless. of her. yonhg.
neglects them, and is even cruel to them.
That this notion was shared by the
writer of the book of job is evidents 1t
also prevailed q thousand years after the
Book of job was, written. See Lam.
4:3:f"Even the sea monsters draw out
the breast they give suck I'd otheiryoung
ones the daughter Of my people is be-
come crueb like the ostriches in tue will
derness.Y s1i boohf ~,
1t is probable that this idea respect
ing the cruelty of the ostrich toward It's
young is derived from the fact that If q
flock of ostriches be chased, and among
them thereibe some very young birds,
the latter are left behind by their par
entsc and fall prey to the hunters
But in reality the ostrich has no choice
in the matter. The wide sandy desert
affords no place of4conoealment in which
it might hide its young. Nature has
not furnished it with weapons by means
of which it can fight for them, and con-
seeuently itrcis forced to use the only
means of escape by which it can avoid
sacrificing its own'life, as we'll as the life
of the young. 9lU3gDN ,g8lqnEtfG ,siiDE
1t does not however, leave the young
until it has tried by all means IN its
power to save. them For example, it
sometimes has recourse to. the maneuvre
with which we are SO familiar in the
case Of the lapwingf and pretends to be
wounded or famed, in order to draw the
attention of its pursuers, while its young
escape in. another direction. An in
stance of this practice is given by Mr.,
Anderson, in his "Lake Ngami" "When
we had proceeded little more than half
the distance, and in a part of the plain
entirely destitute of vegetation, we dis
covered male and female ostrich, with
brood of young ones about the, size of
ordinary barn-door fowls. We, forth
with dismounted from Iour- oxen, and
gave chase, which proved, of no ordinary
interest.
1.-The moment the parent birds be-
came aware of our intention they set off
at full specdLthc female leading the
way, and the cock, though at some little
distance, bringing up the rear of the
| family. 1t was very touching to OBJ
serve the anxiety the birds evinced for
the safety of their progeny Finding
that we We're quickly gaining upon
them, the male at once slackencd his
pace, and .diverged somewhat from his
course; but seeing that we were not to
be diverted from our purpose, he again
increased his speed, and with wings
dropping SO as to touch the ground, he
hovered round us, now in wide circles,
and then decreasing the circumference,
until he came almost within pistol shot,
when he abruptly threw himself on the
ground, and struggled desperately to re-
gain his legs, as it appeared, like bird
that had been badly wounded.
Having previously fred at him, l
really thought he was disabled, and made
quickly toward him. But this was only
a ruse on his part for, on my nearer ap-
proach, he slowly rose and began to run
in different direction to that of the fe-
male, who, by this time, was considera-
bly, ahead with her charge" Nor is
this solitary instance of the care which
the ostrich will take of her young
Thumberg mentions that on one occa-
sion, when he happened to ride near a
place where an ostrich was sitting on the
eggs, the bird jumped up and pursued
him, evidently with the object of dis
tracing his attention from the eggs
When he faced her, she retreatod; but
as soon as he turned his horse, she pur.
sued him afresh.-Rer. j. G. Wood.