The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-06-16

=
= : : -. -Horper's Bdzdr.
0STRICHES AND OSTRICH
- FARMING.
= Those readers who we're so fortunate
as to wander through the long aisles of
the Centennial Exhibition, in 1876, will
Eperhsps remember the South African
section. 1t sticks in my memory on
account Of two things: One, a small,
heavy Stone ring used by the savage
Bushmen; and the other, the ostrich
hatching oven.
Everybody knows what an ostrich
books hke-a bird standing as high upon
: its legs~S pony. and holding a very
snAall and Ssfapid looking head upon 3
neck Is long as its legs As though all
the FATHER material in the bird's s make
mn had been needed for the plumes, the
whole head and neck are almost bare,
being sprinkled with only q few poor
hifs of down and hair in place of feath-
ers.-whiie the heads are positively
naked. Even the gaunt body is but
lmperfecfly elothed. and the tail is ri
dicufousiy fbobbed. But IN two rows on
{ tho wings. and falling over the roots of
the 3als OF plumage that
makes up for all these deficiencies
< masses OF black white and gray feath-
Aefs Of large size and graceful curve,
! erowding one another in exquisitely
soft drapery, all the more beautiful be-
cause surprising in q creature so un-
coufh in every other feature. These
graoefnl ornaments are the ''ostrich
plumes.n
= From the very earliest times these
great. soft droopinQ feathers attracted
the eyes of the men-or possibly the
women firsti-who found them dropped
on thedesert; and they were, perhaps,
/. the first ornaments in the hair of those
( old wild ancestors of ours who lived
z long before written history began.
There are two sorts of ostriches-
some naturalists say more-both living
in open country. One, the African
ccameP ostrich, dwells in the Sahara
deserts of the northern half of that con-
tinent, and in the wide dry plains at the
, south. The other, the '-cassowary,"
belongs to the sterile pampas of Pata-
gonna Besides this, the sandy barrens
of Australia have been, or are now, the
homes of somewhat similar birds, Of
gigantic stature.
0striohes are runners. They have no
wings worth mention, and can no more
fly than the jackals that chase them.
Hardly raising their wings, then, but
only taking enormous strides with their
long and muscular legs, they will out
strip any but a fast horse, and, unlike
the swift antelopes, they have endur-
anee enough 10 continuethe race a long
time Very wary in some respects,
while excessively stupid insothers. os-
triohes cannot be killed easily without
stratagem; and the natives of the couu-
tries which they inhabit, therefore,
practice various devices to entrap them,
or 70 get near enough to shoot them.
in Que Of these plans. the hunter stiff
ems out the skin Of an ostrich so that its
head stands up pretty naturally, and
then, putting the skin over his head
and Shoulders, he approaches q flock
slowly, making them believe that it is
simply another bird coming up, until
he is within arrow-range- When but
slightly wounded, however, the ostrich
fslnee q blow with its foot has force
enough to knock q man down or to
break his leg.
The Indians who inhabit the dreary,
3 wind Swept treeless and chilling plains
of Patagonia depend upon their ostrich
for large part of their food and cloth
ing, and hunt it in a most exciting way.
:; They own herds of tough and hardy
ponies. that are swift of foot for short
distance, and very clever at hunting.
They have also any number of fleet
footed mongrel dogs. When they dis
cover one or two, or, rarely, group of
cassowaries, they endeavor by creeping
along behind ridges, to get as near as
possible to the game without alarming
it, Meanwhile, they throw aside their
fur capes, and detach from the saddle
their bolas, ready for use.. The bolas
are their weapons, and consist of two
or sometimes three balls of lead-fre-
quently, simply stones-covered with
leather. and united by thongs about
four feet long.
~ When the Indian finds he can steal
up no nearer to the ostrich he spurs his
horse and gives open chase. Grasping
) the thong of his bolas, he swings them
rapidly around his head. and, as he
comes close to his game. lets them fly.
They strike the bird, twine around its
I body and legs and throw il down. Be
( for it can get free. the Indian has rid
I den up and dispatched it with knife
orsclub. It requires great skin to hurl
3 the bolas well, but when, mounted
) upon wild Pampas pony, you are rae
! ing oyer the breezy plains after the
swift-heeing bird and the close-pursu-
ing hounds, you feel that nothing can
stir the blood into keener action or can
better be called sport
The nests of ostriehes vary greatly,
though always built on the ground.
Generally. ashigh, dry spot is selected,
where there is plenty of herbage, which
may be heaped into q rim around de-
preston scratched out by the feet But
some birds will choose most illjudged
site, where the eggs may be drowned
in pool during the first rain-storm-
Again, for some nests you must search
long and closely, while others are
placed in the most open positions. As
q rule, it is the male that builds the
nest, and he also sits the longest. and
always at night, the female taking her
turn during the daytime. In the care of
the eggs the birds differ greatly, some
being extremely anxious lest their treas
ures shall suffer exposure or be inter
fered with, while others seem entirely
careless about what may happen. So,
too, one ostrich will defend his nest or
Young family to the last extremity of
his strei 9TH, while another will desert
his home or brood before an enemy in
the most cowardly manner. Remem-
bering the individual differences, one
of the farmers at the Cape gave as his
reason for enjoying the cultivation OF
the birds that he never could make out
their characters, and so was constantly
amused by some novelty in their be-
hav1or.
The dozen or two eggs that are laid
by the ostrich are precisely Ike tur-
keys eggs in color, but OF greater size'