The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1885-07-11
THE OSTRICH.
The Largest and One of the Queerest q
All Birds-1ts Habits. Etc.


The Largest and One of the oueerest Of
All Birds-Its Habits. Etc.
OF all the birds that show the wonder
full resources of infinite wisdom in their
construction perhaps the ostrich is the
queerest as it certainly is tho largest,
being among the birds what the ele-
plant is among animals--a full-sized
male standing erect measuring eight
feet and more. With its long head and
neck il can overlook the tallest bushes
and reeds in which it chooses to hide,
and its legs are said TO be the swiftest
in the world
Unlike other birds the wings are used
for running instead OF flying, and with
them they can take at every step stride
of from twelve to fourteen feet, almost
across gooi-sized room.
The natives of Africa ride the ostrich,
and Arabs have been known to cross
the desert upon their backs, though
they sometimes run at a frightful speed.
When in motion the legs are invisible,
like the spokes of a wheel. which gives
the bird the appearance of flying at a
little distance from the ground.
This strange bird seldom drinks, and
its food is as often old iron and brass as
anything else. The ostrich swallows
iron and great many hard things Just
as hen swallows stones, and it is said
by those who have watched their habits
that they will not discriminate between
cold and hot; even red-hot iron they
have been known to swallow. The
appetite of the ostrich is as Unsuitable as
their capacity is great and almost any
thing that comes in their way becomes
their food-old rags newspapers, bones,
wood, stones and even glass!
As pebbles and stones are used to
grind up the food of the hen, all these
hard things answer to the same purpose
to the ostrich.
Being great thief it will make way
in moment with anything that comes
within its reach, even to gold watch
and chain, which one of these birds
once purloined from the pocket of u
gentleman who at some exhibition ap-
preached it too closely. AT single
mouthful it was gone out of sight
The natural food of the ostrich IL
grass, grain, fruits, rats, mice, insects
in fact, anything of the sort that they
can get, and they can go long time
without drink altogether il need be-
Yet they really have something as a
substitute which grows in the desert,
sort of wild melon that absorbs the
moisture of the atmosphere in the cool
nights-truly watermelon to travel
ers as WELL who often are astonished to
find them in places where they would
not believe drop of water ever came.
The eggs of the ostrich are immense,
a single egg being equal to two dozen
hens eggs! The mother bird hollows
out a place in the sand and lays her
eggs in it By day she abandons them
to the heat of the sun, which in those
countries is very great, but always at
night she or the male will cover them.
They are very social birds, often us
ing the same nest in company until
there are from sixty to seventy eggs in
a nest of several feet in diameter Sew
eral eggs are left outside, and are not
meant to be Matched, as you will see.
When the ostrich begins to sit she is
still laying, and as it takes nearly two
months for an egg to hatch, they can
not all come out together. Now see
what a wise provision. As soon as the
young ostrich appears, which is then
the size of good fat hen, the mother
takes it to one of the scattered eggs.
which she breaks for its food In this
way the little ostriches have something
to live upon until the whole family is
Matched and the mother at liberty 40
look after them. Often the bird begins
to lay before she has thought of a nest.
Travellers finding them in the desert
has probably given rise to the story that
they are apt to forsake their eggs.
You ask if the eggs are good for
foodP The Hottentots and 'Bushmen"
think so. A lean Bushman will eat one
OF these huge eggs at meal cooked in
their own peculiar way; and this is the
way he hunts them. When he finds
nest he pulls off his pantaloons, made
of skins rudely sewn together, and ties
them at the ankles, making sort of
forked bag. This he fills with the eggs,
setting it astride his shoulders If walk
ing, and if on horseback over the horse,
like pair of saddle-bags. The shell is
SO very tough that it will bear great
deal of jolting.
This shell is put to various uses by
the tribes inhabiting the countries where
it is found-fashioned into bowls and
ladies, and with an opening at one end
and glass-stopper at the other, makes
very good substitute for bottle. This
is really the only kind of water vessel
some people have, and it is used in a
very curious manner. Taking their
ostrich shells and couple of long, hol-
low reeds to the sandy marshes where |
water is sometimes found, they thrust
them down into the wet sand with
bunch of grass at the end, used as a |
filter, by letting the water pass through |
it. Then the water is drawn through |
one tube by the mouth, and then
through the other into she'll set up
right in the ground. Thus each person
is supplied with water in this primitive
way.
The 'Bushmen," those fierce little |
wild men of South Africa, make a
strange use of these ostrich shell bot |
ties. If about to surprise an epemy's |
village they bury all along the road a
great many shells filed with water. In |
this way on their return home with |
their booty they find at every hating |
place drink for themselves and their |
stolen herds. while their pursuers are
obliged to turn back and give up the
chase for want of water.
The feathers of the ostrich! Who |
does not know of them the world overp |
As the elephant is hunted for his tusks,
80 is the ostrich for its feathers. TIE
finest and very expensive are the long
white plumes from tee wings, bringing
from one hundred and nifty to two hun
dred dollars a pound. 1t takes about
eighty feathers TO make pound. The |
black and gray are much cheaper, and |
the smaller they are the less esteemed.
On the coasts of Africa, in European
settlements, there are regular ostrich
farms where the birds are raised ex-
pressly for their feathers 1t requires !
only a low wall 10 keep them from get
ting out, as they can not fly high, the
largest quill feathers OF the wing being
entirely wanting Though very fine.
the feathers Ct the domesticated birds /
are less beautiful than those OF the wild !
ones