Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1886-07-23

The Ostrich.
: In their native land, when an ostrloH
is taken with a desire to lay an egg
which happens as often as the centui,J
plant blooms with us, say once moI.n'
the bird has to hunt for a place TO iay'
and sometimes hundreds of miles arc
iraversed over the shifting sanuS'
through binding storms, to find pi@Iso
70 deposit the egg; for be it known 1ii0
ostrich cannot sit down to lay an egg,
ike the hen of commerce. II there
was an occasional high board fence ID
Africa, that the bird might deposit ~
egg on top of it, much OF the worry OF
The poor ostrich would be saved, p1'
they have to hunt a place where, stanu-
ing up, like a printer setting type,
they can hide the egg where anyD0uy
can find it. The emigrant ostrich mas
much to be thankful for, on arriving
acre. When an auntie ostrich wants 10
lay, the old man ostrich goes to the
boss Of the ostrich ran h, and by signs
and innuendoes, as it were, tells him
that the old lady desires an audience
with him, and he at once provides the
! necessary step ladder, or whatever ar
! tcle of farm machinery she desires Tor
a nest, and she goes into ret rement,
/ while the old man ostrich stands OIL at
a respectable distance, or walks around
with an "Ill-put-a-head-o on any man-os-
/ trlch-thut-s up-around here ar,
and he puts his thumbs in his vest, or
under his wing, and swings his coat tan
feathers like Pat Rooney. Ii is touch
ing sight when the old lady ostrich re-
turns from the secondstory nest-the
iron seat of reaper is a favorite place
for them to lay-but she does not
cackle like a hen that has laid an egg.
Many think that the female ostrich
! cackles, but she don't. At least so |
am told. She gets off the nest and
walks around the egg three times,
gives the Masonic grand hailing sign
OF distress, goes to a fen or gate, or
a wagon box, Or whatever is handy, and
gives three di. tinct raps; the male os-
trlch, who Is hard by, says who comes
there| at the same time crossing his
legs like letter Y. The female says,
" a friend who desires admittance to
your noble order" and she curtis es,
"AANA nv Guy p AAllClbIlb anu IOuOIdDlO
female, you have been tried and found
worth two in the bush;" then he whacks
her over the head with his left wing, in
token that he is the boss, and they go
oil arm in arm, singing "We are dudes"
OF course, we who are familiar with
ostriches have to guess, to certain ex-
tent, what they are saying; but the
lrnguage have put into their bills is
as near in accordance with their &C
lions as it is possible for science, in its
present crude state, to get. When an
ostrich desires to sit, to hatch her
young it is an interesting time on an
ostrich farm. With hens, when we de-
sire to prevent their sitting, we take
them Off the nest and give them a
douse in pail OF water, or tie red
string to their legs, but with the ostrich
1t IS different When she announces,
either through the personals in the
daily papers or otherwise, that she de-
slres to sit, the emlgrant ostrich has
got to be allowed to sit, or she will or
ganize a strike and boycott the whole
human race. SO her husband goes to
the ostrlchanarian surgeon, and he |
teels OF her pulse, and looks at her
tongue, and if she is in the proper
bilious condition, he fixes up rocking |
char with the proper number of eggs |
IN, escorts her to the chair, and bows |
away, and for the proper inter-
val she retires from society, with all OF
its shams and frivolities, and becomes a |
warm friend of those eggs. Meanwhile
the male ostrich goes to parties. and |
makes himself quite fresh all around
the ranch. He gets around once day.
and lies to her as to where he has been.
and perhaps sits on the eggs for an
hour or so, while she goes off and eats
a length Of stove-pipe or some hinges,
to keep her up during the trying or
deal She watches him from her nest
the best she can during the mournfuI
period of incubation, and shows plain
ly that she doesn't believe a word he
says, though she patiently picks strange
ostrich feathers off his coat, when he
shows up, and makes no sign except to
look at him in a manner that betokens
that his conduct is killing her. But
finally she comes off the nest with
lot of things that look as though a
party Of old ladies had dropped their
knitting work, with the balls of yarn |
and needles stuck in them. Young os-
triches are tough-looking customers,
but the mother is proud of them, and !
even the old man ostrich shows that he
feels as though it was the finest litter
of young ostriches on earth, and he
acts as though he alone was respon-
sible In time they grow up full size,
and are ready for ostrich on toast OF
to show to the public at half dollar
head. Geo. W. Peck.