Morning journal and courier., 1885-11-25

1 two and one-half years ago. Not one bird ! has died trGn. disease That there have been failures en the feao to success is, however, manifested by a eonstdersn,c plie or blown" ostrich eggs lying outside of the lncu oaeor.
 The farm is divided into two gets of coarrals by high board fence, which incloses yard of considerable size. During the night All the birds, old and young, are kept in corrals within this yard. By day all the young birds, except the latest "chickens," are driven outside to the two corraisj where they are first seen by the visitor to the farm. Inc old birds are secluded that they may be dis turbed as little as possible, 50 that the hatch ing may progress successfully. The young birds in shs outside corral are not vicious yet, nor will they bs until they are three years old It is, therefore, safe to leave many together The old birds it is found necessary to corral in pairs. There are only two exceptions In one enclosure are three adult birds. In another is the very vicious bird which killsd it's mate. A pair are seen to be together, solicitors about the wei fare of eleven chickens, which ake aged about eight weeks, and which represent one hatch ing which had no failure, all the eggs which were placed in the nest of sand turn ing out successfully. As the interest of the visitor culninates in the consideration of these very immature ostriches, few people ever having seen "baby ostIiches," something may be said of them in detail.
 Last spring, when there were yonng os- triches to be looked after, it was found neces- sary to close the farm against all spectators. The parent birds became so much excited on the approach of a stranger that they stepped on the chickens and killed them. Since then precautions have been taken to protect the parents from annoyance. little more than three months ago eleven eggs were al~ lowed pair of birds in a corral on the south side of She enclosure. These were placed in a nest hollowsd out in the sand. The natural way of matching had been concluded to be the best. In fact, the artificial incubators on the farm have been taken to pieces and apparently discarded The eggs were sat upon by the male ostrich at night and by the female ostrich by day. In six weeks eleven scraggy looking ostriches struggled out through the thick shells and began to strug- gle for living. They were not larger than Q black Spanish game fowl, perhaps not so large, but still of sufficient size to make it a wonder that they could have been contained in such sized eggs. They stood on their feet after few trials and presented eomi- cal sight. They had quills more like those of porcupine, only stubs, than like feath- CTS. They soon went to eating and were fed Egyptian corn, not cobble stones. They were eleven odd chickens, growing bigger every day, and continually developing some thing more like feathers. For the first week the happy father brooded them The corral was open to the air day and night. There was no covering overhead and the wind blew through the slats as it would. But the chick ens passed the age which is said to be the most critical, six weeks. It had been de- mons rnonstrated that the California winter, with what rain tnay fall, and there was enough of it in 1888, does not hurt ostriches. So these young ones went along without coddlIng as others have done.
 The chickens to-day are not so large as ss prize Thanksgiving turkey, but they are al ready equal to an ordinary turkey. They all gray. All ostriches are of this color until later, when the males grow black with some white feathers. They have the inherit ed tendency of their kind as markedly devei- oped as the baby elephant h..s when he be- gins to "weave" as soon as he can stand on his post-shaped legs. They feed with their parents, but that the parents feel any pride in their offspring is not evident. The big bills of the old birds shut upon the alfalfa and cabbage with brisk, snapping sound. The little birds appear to have the same vo- racious appetite. How much they eat daily is question with unsatisfactory answer, for they trample over their food If the hen ever clucks to her chickens after the manner of domestic fowls, or if they pipe or ''peep" an answer, upon this occasion they were sl- lent. The attendants say that the big os- triches do not call to the chickens. The parent bird did not scratch in the sand for delicacies for the chickens. Such proceed
 
 sent the alfalfa and pieces of cabbage flying about as if discharged from mortar. h fact, taking the customary procedure of domestic fowls as a comfortable precedent for the guidance of other birds, the sociability ex- isting in the ostrich family is at a very low ebb. The care of the family, so far as the attendance is concerned, consists in keeping strangers and dogs away from the eorrals, and in throwing over to them their green food. There are ostrich diseases known. If it rains the chickens will get wet and will dry when the shines.
 i21 s----tl about one year old they will De p1ucked for the first time. They are supposed to have at tained their full size when they are two years old, though sometimes they seem to grow little after that. They carry their stomachs on their backs and are ali legs and neck. The head is 8 funny little affair, about equal in size to that of a young gosling. The head of full-grown ostrich is not much larger than a ganders head, though perched on a neck several feet long. The brain of an adult is not much larger than a walnut.