San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1883-08-09
OUR OSTRICH FARM.
-, Ten Couples at the Feather Ranch In South
49,. CalIfornia-Thsir Habits aud Prospects

The winters here are a little warmer
nd the summers little cooler for
shs ostriches that in their native land
Thev are about six miles from the
pacific, where there is good grazing
land, worth about $50 an acre. They
are doing as well as at home, except,
ike other bridal parties, they have
Lost the dociity for which they were
noted at home. The keeper charges
4 TO the electric air of the Pacific
coast. One of the birds 1.-THE cock of
tbe walk has become so acclimated
tbat he has given his beloved rest,
The first of her tribe to enrich Ameri-
can soil. They do not fight with
their wings, beak or spurs, as do some
Of the feathery kind, but like that
wonderful monster, the mule with
their feet. It is well known in science
thanks to a few book agents) what
the sensation is to be kicked by a
mule, but no one who has been fairly
impressed by thu softness of an ostrich
foot has live to tell the tale. AS in
human nature, so in ostrich nature,
the female rarely gets angry. When
she cannot run away and has none of
the sterner sex to defend her, she will
strike for liberty OF die. The likeness
to human nature does not follow so
closely in the male bird. He is the
ornamental branch of the family, and
when it is desired to start a new
branch he makes the nest, asks his
companions to come and examine it;
if, after putting their heads together,
the mistress of the house is satisfied
ishe usually is), she furnishes it with
a dozen or so four-pound eggs, five to
six inches in diameter, each equiva-
lent to two dozens of hens eggs, and
then allows her male helpmate to do
the principal part of the setting.
Think of that, oh man, and then say
which ought to hide their heads in
the dust! He sits all night willingly,
but woe to that hen that does not
come on time to relieve him for
breakfast. He must, of course, strut
a little during the day, and is always
at the lodge at night. Forty days and
forty nights, with three days of grace,
he maintains squatter sovereignty,
until his posterity begin to make a
stir in their environments, and then
he helps them pick their way out into
this beautiful world Of evolution.
This in the way they do it in their
wild state; but here, as in all we'll
regulated farms in Africa, Australia,
South America and elsewhere, the
incubators prevent this exemplary dis
play of manhood. When Matched
the young ostriches are about the size
of common hen and about the color
of young goose. At maturity the
male is black, with white tips on the
wings and tail, which alone constitute
his stock in trade, amounting in Afri-
ca to several millions Of dollars. The
female is gray, with the usual white
tips, but not so profuse as the male.
The birds here are from six to ten
years of age, and are larger and more
ife-like than the ostriches hauled
about with shows and in geological
gardens. The brood just out will be
pastured in an Alfalfa patch, with a
herder. Counting the chickens before
they were Matched few were sold
some weeks ago for 5000 each. Other
companies are soon to embark in this
new enterprise and there is room for
a hundred thousand more. All the
vegetables and lime and gravel they
need can be had in abundance in
Southern California. They drink
yerv little water, sometimes going
three days without any. An artesian
well 800 feet deep on this farm, cost
ing as many dollars, flowing constant
ly, supplying all the water needed for
sixty acres of alfalfa, that
yields SIX good crops yearly. Approach
ing the farm in all directions are seen
notices upon poles declaring that all
dogs found on the premises will be
shot" Disobedience to this order has
resulted in the demise of several pet
CANNES, and the loss of temper OF
their pretty companions.
The story that a pair of birds had
escaped from the farm, and, after kill
ing a few men and a lot of school
children, had fed to the wilds of
Arizona to populate the desert tracts,
is far from the truth. 1t started,
probably, from the following instruc.
tive and amusing incident: Several
nights ago this feathery flock became
by coyote or some wild
animal, and, Of course, no fence could
hold them. They soon kicked 1t to