The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-06-27
THE OSTRICH.
The Largest and One of the Oueerest of
Ali Birds-Its Habits, Etc.

vi All lHe DlFuS UnaG snow the wonder
full resources of infinite wisdom in their
construction perhaps the ostrich is the
queerest, as it certainly is the 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 it 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 good-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 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 rGd-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 a great thief it will make way
in moment with anything that comes
within its reach, even to n gold watch
and chain, which one of these birds
once purloined from the pocket of a
gentleman who at some exhibition ap-
preached it too closely. At a single
motdhfui it was gone out of sight.
The natural food of the ostrich is
grass, grain, fruits, rats, mice, insects
in fact, anything of the sort that they
can get, and they can 90 long time
without drink altogether if need be!
Yet they really have something as a
substitute which grows in the desert, a
sort of wild melon that absorbs the
moisture of the atmosphere in the cool
nights-truly q watermelon to travel
ers as well, who often are astonished to
lind 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
hen eggs! The mother bird hollows
out place in the sand and laws 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
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 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 to
look afJer them. Often the bird begins
to lay before she has thought of nest.
Travellers finding them in the desert
has probably given rise to the story that
fhoNr ,Nft to 4.
You ask if the eggs are good for
food? The Hottentots and ''Bushmen"
think so. A lean Bushman will eat one
of these huge eggs at a 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 ioltng.
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
a very good substitute for bottle. This
is really the only kind of water vessel
some people have, and it is used in q
very curious manner. Taking their
ostrich shells and a 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 shell 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
strange use of these ostrich shell bot
ties. If about to surprise an enemy's