Cheyenne transporter. [volume] (Darlington, Indian Terr.) 1879-1886, 1882-03-10
OSTRICH FARMING.
What an importer of Animals Says
About the Great Birds.

About the Great Birds.
New York Evening Post.
Mr.. Charles Reiche, the well.known
importer Of animals, referring to the
article on ostrich farming which ap-
pcared a few evenings ago in The
Evening Post. said this morning that
while he had no doubt there was a
good field for the business in this cOun-
try, a first experiment in breeding os-
triches which he had made some'Eears
ago had been disappointing. He i'm
ported six chicks in 1875 from Nubia,
Africa, expecting to keep them until
full-grcwn, when they would be valu-
able for show purposes. AS they are
birds which require good deal of
room, it was easier to transport them
when young than when they attain full
size. The six were taken to Hoboken
when about four months old, and
seemed to thrive well; they ate vo-
raciously whatever was offered to them
even stones as big as mans fist,
nails, oyster shells, etc. They grew so
fast that the experiment was considered
a highly successful one until one after
another they began to die from some
mysterious cause which was not dis
covered until their bodies were dissect.
ed. 1t was then found that many of
their bones were broken, and that the
rich food, and too much Of it, had
caused them to become heavy and fat
before the bones were large enough to
support the weight of their bodies.
The bone structure had not kept pace
with the flesh. The food had been too
rich.
At present there are only four Os.
triches in the country. Barnum re-
ceived two few weeks ago, and the
Cincinnati Geological garden has had
one for number Of years. At tpresent
Mr.. Reiche has two men in Nubia and
two in Cape Town on the lookout for
some ostliches to ill an order for
dozen from Barnum. The method Of
catching them at present is as follows:
The agent engages alf.a-dozen hunters,
to whom he pays no wages but whose
expenses he defrays. Mounted on good
horses, these men track herd of Os-
triches, who are found in the desert
usually feeding on wild melons grow
ing in the sand, and on bean known
to the natives as durah. The herds
vary in numbers from fifteen to fifty
adults, each male bird having in sub
lection several females. When the
huntsmen appear the whole herd takes
to flight, but owing to the habit of
running in circles a good hOrseman
can make short work of the swiftest
ostrich. The adults are shot or stran-
gled and the chicks are tied by the
legs and carried off. The feathers of
the old birds belong to the huntsmen,
who are paid in this way for the work.
Instead of pulling out the feathers of
the dead birds the natives skin the
birds, and sailing the hides with arsenic
and salt, to prevent decomposition,
send them to London in that state.
The young birds are then fed with any,
kind of grain and sent to Germany,
which is the great market for wild
animals of all kinds.
In hunting the birds many eggs are
sometimes found, which during the
expedition in the desert are eaten by
the natives, one egg weighing nearly
three pounds. The eggs in the nest
are placed upright and usually covered
with sand, the heat Of the sun aiding
the incubation during the day while
the bird sits on them at night. Around
each nest is circle Of eggs which are
not Matched, but serve as food for the
chicks when they leave the shell.
Ostrich hunting is apt to be dan
gerOus business to anyone not familiar
with their modes of attack. One of