The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1881-06-16


To cobalt blues, and bisters.
The malady doth now extend
To both her elder sis tiers
OSTRICHES AND OSTRICH.
..E.- FARMING.
Those readers who were so fortunate
as to wander through the long aisles of
the Centennial Exhibition, in 1876, will
perhaps 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
hat hing oven.
Everybody knows what an ostrich
looks like-a bird standing as high upon
its legs as a pony. aud holding very
small and stnpid-looking head upon .
neck as long as its legs. As though all
the feather material in the birds make
up had been needed for the plumes, the
whole head aud neck are almost bare,
being sprinkled with only few poor
bits of down and hair in place of feath-
ers, while the heads are positively
naked. Even the gaunt BODY is but
imperfectly clothed, and the tail is RI
dIculously bobbed. But in two rows on
the wings, and falling over the roots of
the tail, is wealth of plumage that
makes up for all these deficiencies
masses OF black, white and gray feath-
ers of large size and graceful curve,
crOwding one another in eXQuistely
soft drapery. all the more beautiful be-
cause surprising in a creature so un-
couth in every other feature These
graceful ornaments are the ''ostrich
plumes."
From the very earliest times these
great. soft, dropping feathers attracted
the eyes of the men or possibly the
women t!--who found them dropped
on the desert; and they were. perhaps,
the first ornaments in the hair of those
Old wild ancestors of ours who lived
long before written history began.
There are two sorts of ostriches-
some naturalists say more-both living
in open country. One, the African
''camer' 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-
gonia. Besides this, the sandy barrens
OF Australia have been, or are now, the
homes of somewhat similar birds, of
gigantic stature.
Ostriches 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 autelopes, they have endur-
ance enough to continue the race long
time. Very wary in some respects,
while excessively stupid in others. os-
triches cannot be killed easily without
stratagem; and the natives of the coun-
tries which they inhabit. therefore.
pract ce various devices to entrap them,
or to get near enough to shoot them.
In one 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 a 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
is dangerous animal to get near to,
since blow with its foot has force
enough to knock q man down or to
break his leg.
The Indians who inhabit the dreary,
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 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, a 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 leld-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, Irvine around its
body and legs and throw it down. Be-
for it can get free. the Indian has rid
den up and dispatched it with knife
or club. 1t requires great skill to hurl
the bolas we'll, but when. mounted
upon wild Pampas pony, you are rae
ing over the breezy plains q ter the
swift-1eeing 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 ostriches vary greatly,
though always built on the ground.
Generally. high, dry spot is selected,
where there is plenty of heritage. which
may be heaped into rim around de-
preston scratched out by the feet But
some birds will choose most ill-judged
site, where the eggs may be drowned
in a pool during the first rain-storm.
Again, for some nests you must search
long and closely, while others are
placed in the most open posi- ions. As
. rule, it is the male that builds the
uCoes nAA NJ 0aoV oACS Iu0 kOuK0SGs 6DkO
ALWAYS at night, the female taking her
turn during the day time. 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 strength. while another win desert
his home or brood before an enemy in
the most cowardly manner. Remem-
boring the individual differences, one
OF the farmers at the Cape gave IS 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-
havlor.
The dozen or tive eggs that are laid
BY the ostrich are precisely Ike tur-