The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1886-06-23
SOMERSET, PA, JUNE %, 1886.

5, 1856.
asked. Oh said the boy we 20 around
in the morning with a lantern and shove
them off into their own pens Most peo-
pie think that the birds run their heads
into the sand or bush when afraid. They
got this idea from the old primers, you
know. The difficulty is that the tame
adult ostrich is afraid Of noting and it il
a dangerous matter to go into the pens"
The guide vaulted the main fence and
approached the corral, where Il fine male
was kept to show its method of manifest
ing its rage. The bird, which was at least
eight feet high, Immediately came neal
to him and at first seemed looking at a
place on his head tn peck, then, bracing
back, it pitched forward, her again
back and after finally settling upon its
knees it lifted its wings and thew its
neck back, striking its head violently up
On each side of its back alternately. max
ing n somewhat similar movement with
its wings, presenting Il picture altogether
indescribable, except by instantaneous
photography.
4 DANGEROUS BIRD.
When for any reason the keepers enter
the corral they take IL long pole with a
crotch at the end, and when the birds
make for them they are gently met by
this, placed against the neck. This is alb
~solutely necessary, As the birds kick for
ward and have been known to kill a man
instantly, though not here. The legs are
enormously powerful and the two toes
armed with formidable claws, n being
two inches in length and capable ola Wig
orous blow.
The ranch embraces about two hun
drad acres. is on fiat, sandy adobe soil,
selected for its immunity from frost. The
farm is divided off into a number of cor
rails. The largest contains the two-year-
old birds-tine specimens, all extremely
tame and well feathered. About one
half the land is sowed with alfalfa, the
clover of the country, this forming the
principal food of the birds, which require
an abundance of green material. Each
bird eats, by actual weight, about forty
pounds of alfalfa IA day, besides, corn, car
rots, ground shells, Get.
In the inner corral of about ten acres
there are sub divisions of pens enclosed
with fences four feet high, in which, with
one exception, where there was Il yonng
brood, there were breeding pairs, a male
and female. the latter distinguished by
its smaller stature and brownish gray
color-thc males having the black plum
The birds i'll the large corral are feeding
continually and the others are given the
alfalfa and various vegetables twice a day.
Shells and pebbles are brought nee Il
week from the seashore and the former
when ground, are given the birds To help
make cgg-shells and the latter presum-
ably to aid in digestion.
MATCHING THE CHICKS.
The female bird sets all day and about
shutdown the male takes her place and
relieves her until sunrise. The nest is
merely a shallow spot made by scratch
ing-a hole four or five feet across and
ten or twelve inches deep. Herejhe hen
LAYS from twelve to sixteen eggs. each
weighing about four pounds. An egg is
laid every other day, and Il good nest for
setting will weigh seventy-tive pounds.
If the eggs are taken from Il nest the hen
will sometimes lay twice as many. This
circumstance is going 10 be taken advan-
tage of and eggs will be taken from the
nest and placed in an incubator. The
young are Matched i'll forty-two days by
the birds and the chicks are watched by
them for Il month or more with great
care. after which they are taken from the
parents and corralled. In a month from
this time the hen begins to lay again, and
an ordinary bird will produce three
broods a year and perhaps forty young
birds. while first class birds lay ninety
eggs a wear. Assuming that of these sew
enty live. these will begin to lay, when
four years old, though they cannot be
considered first-class birds until older.
when they have Il record like their par
ents of sixty or seventy birds Il year.
Birds differ greatly, and in their selection
perhaps the greatest secret of the trade
lies. Some never make good breeders,
laying inferior . Expert ostrich men,
that Is men who nave made the birds an
intelligent study, of course have the adj
vantage, and can tell more readily IL good
breeder than Il green hand. Yet SO free
are the birds from disease or troubles of
any kind that undoubtedly parties with
little or no experience would meet with
few drawbacks, and a. the increase after
Il few years is very rapid there is much TO
encourage ONT.
The birds had been plucked Il few days
previous To our visit and So did not pre-
sent as attractive an appearance. though
the plucking does not strip thent, rs is
sometimes thought. They are Plucked
about every sever or eight months, both
sexes producing about twenty-five living
white plumes that are valued, raw or
salted. at from So to So. Some of the two
year old chicks had been plucked three
times, at first when six months old. The
feathers If these birds were valued ut
about 81 each, and when three years old
or so they produce the finest feathers.
FORTUNES IN
This ranch is the pioneer one in the
country and it was established in 1855 as
an experiment to determine whether os-
trich farming was at all practicable here.
The incentive lay in the fact that the
business in South Africa has assumed
mammoth proportions and the ostrich
feather as an article of import ranks next
to the diamond. To show better the val
ue of the industry, fifty millions is esti-
mated to be invested in the industry in
Cape Colony while the Orange Free State
the TransvaM and Natal have at least as