The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-09-25
CATCHING THE OSTRICH.
HOW THE ARTF VI BIRD IS HUNTED
IN PATAGONIA.
Indians Chasing the Ostrich on
Observation-Disclosures wing the Isolas
Facts abOut Ostrtrhes.

York Sun says: Guanaco skins are car
ried away from Punta Arenas also, and
are considered very fine. These are the
wearing apparel of the Indians, and with
the ostrich rugs the chief results of their
chase. In Patagonia ostrches are not
bred as at the Cape of Good Hope, but
run wild, and are rapidly getting ex-
terminated. The Indians chase them on
horseback, and catch them with bolas,
two heavy balls upon the end of rope.
Grasping one ball in the hand they gallop
after the ostrich, and whirling the other
ball around their heads like a coil of
lasso, they let go when near enough to
the bird, and the two balls, still rcvolv-
ing in the air, if skillfully directed will
wind around the long legs of the ostrich
and send him turning somersaults upon
the sand. The Indians then leap from
the saddle, and, If they are out of meat,
cut the throat of the bird and carry the
carcass to camp; but If they have no
need of food, they pull the long plumcs
from his tail and wings, and let him go
again to gather fresh plumagc for the
next season.
The bolas are handled very deXterous.
ly and well trained Indians are said to
be able to bring down an ostrich at a
range of two or three hundred yards.
But 1t is not often necessary to fire at that
distance. Horses accustomed to the
chase can overtake a bird on an unob-
structed plain, but the birds have the
advantage of being artful dodgers. and,
carrying so much less weight, can turn
and reverse quite suddenly. The usual
mode of hunting them is for a dozen or
so mounted Indians to surround herd
and charge upon them suddenly. In
this way sevaral are usually brought down
before they scatter and those that get
away are pursued. AS they dodge from
one hunter they usually run afoul Of
another, and the first they know they
are trapped by the entangling bolas.
People who are passing through the stats
often stop over a steamer at Punta Are
mas to enjoy an ostrich chase. They can
secure trained horses and guides at mod
crate prices; but one who has never
thrown the bolas will be amazed the first
time lie tries it to find how difficult it is
to do a trick that looks so easy Not
long ago a young English lord, who
came down here to exterminate the os-
trch family, came very near being
lynched for manslaughtcr, as the first
bolas he threw took one of the half
breed guides under the car and laid him
out as cold us a wedge His lordship
made a suitable provision for the family
of his victim, and the deceased mans
partner Immediately took up with the
bcreaved widow without the formality
of a wedding ceremony The bride and
groom omitted the usual period of noun
ing, and appeared to be much gratiiicd
at the result of his lordship's visit. or
~. !, Ill.
but the marriage was useful in diverting
public attention from the accident, and
the reckless scion of the nobility slipped
away to Valparaiso without explaining
matters to a court.
Large amounts of money have been
made on ostrich farms IN Africa, and
they might, perhaps, be duplicated
in this locality; but as long as the Indi-
ans are allowed to kill the birds and sell
the results of weeks chase for few
drinks of rum, the business would not be
profitable The ostriches are becoming
scarcer every year, as the improvident
Indians slaughter them without reason,
and the pampas will soon become as
barren of their greatest source of revenue
as the plains of our great West are of
buifaloes to day. At any of the tradin
DOSlS 1T 1 ulNd -AltldS Nuu Cdu OuN lOl
IS or $40 rug that represents the
breasts of twelve or fifteen young os-
triches, and even that low price gives
the trader profit, of many hundred per
cent, as few drinks of whisky makes
the Indian susceptible to persuasion.
If the government of Chilli were to sell
the monopoly of trading in ostrich skins
and feathers to few fair minded men,
Tho binds would ,nulti,Iv
and the beauty Of their plumage be very
much increased. The best plumes are
worth $40 or $50 pound in the market,
and are much improved by the proper
care of the bird Those that run wild
have their feathers torn by bushes and
ruined by mud, and the better the
quality of food they receive the better
the plumes they produce. Ostriches
usually live to be twenty or more years
old, if they do not fall prey to hunters
or pumas (Patagonian lions) and after
the age of four or five years they can be
made to produce a couple of pounds Of
plumes annually. The American os.
trich is said not to be so good as that Of
Africa, but experts say that it is only be
cause the latter has been cultivated,
while the former has been permitted to
run wild, eating such food as he can pick
up on the pampas, preyed upon by
pumas and wolves, and tearing his coat
to tatters by plunging through the brush.
The popular supposition that an os-
trich never lays but one egg and drops
that anywhere upon the sand is nonsense.
The female lays as many eggs annually
as goose or a hen, and covers them with
as much care, usually digging hole in
the sand with her feet and depositing
her eggs in it daily until the time for in
cubatiOn comes, when she sits regularly
upon them and is fed by her mate. Very
often eggs are found singy upon the
desert, dropped in a chase or when the
bird is unable to reach her nest.
The egg OF the ostrich is equal in size
and nourishment 20 about two dozen or
binary hens eggs, and sometimes weighs
three pounds. The flavor is wholesome
and an omelette made Of them could moi
be detected. One egg makes a good