The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1889-01-18
AN OSTRICH FARM
REAatNG THESE GRoTEsoUE
BIRDS FOR THEIR PLUsIAGE
A Unique California Industry-The
Feat Of Pluclling Requires Great
strategy-Incubating Their Pro
digious ESgs-Ostrich Diet

On this sunny border of land we are
used 20 seeing almost everything grow
ing in the tropical gardens, even to
ostrich feathers, which are a crop that is
highly interesting, We crossed the bay
p1fIntasIl EssEl- fan Diego, Cal, to Coro-
nado, and paused before the closed red
wood gatesof the ostrich camp. A man
with long ferked pole and dog at his
heels answered our summons, opened
the closed gates and ushered US in.
Hey, Pet hey, Pet here, Pet hey,
hey. heym he called, and down che
held from the upper end Of the enclosure,
came ''Petn and all the other ''petsn in
The most graceful comical, undulating,
wa,tz-like trot imaginable, pcNing their
long. fiat bills over the redwood bars.
"Ohl they know their names - we
cried, in admiration. (which is Petl
DO tell usls
''The man with the forked pole
shackled, and. reaching through the
oars with the stick, picked up moulted
leather that fiuttered along on the
ground just ahead of him and handed it
to us. ssThey don't know a thing" he
saids contradictorilg. "They don
1A1n q uABlf AIN LlIt ItH AN@tA bttes
but 1 have to call them something.
Trey don't even know me, and have
aiken care OF them ever since the chicks
were hatchcE
The Oh birds arc tnfrsy one years OF
tge and were brought from Cape Colony
# a cost Of $500 apiece TO import them.
The remainder Of the herd aye young
birds from two to two and a half years
Did. raised at Fallbrook, about fifty
niles north of San Diego. where Bos-
ON firm has for a number Of years cou-
lueted an Ostrich ranch on a large
lrale.
Now an Ostrich chick is not very
''cutc" with its big pink eyes, a terrible
swelled neck, and the webbiest kind OF
ieet that separate only gradually into
something like toes, and Will not allow
the fowl TO get on its legs until 1t IS sew
sral days old. But when it begins to
develop it becomes more interesting, and
after the first week YOU can fairly see 1t
grow. Soon the soft gray fuzz with
which It is covered begins TO lengthen
out into little downy sprouting nous
.aches of feathers, and it really looks
cunning. Day by day it grows fnitier,
its wings take shape, and short bristling
quilts like those OF hedgehog, push
into sight along its wing edges. These
are its future plume spines By degrees,
IS the biped's legs aud neck lengthen,
rs gray plumage deepens in shade, if q
male, hghtens if female. In the course
9f time the male birds coat turns to
icity black, relieved only underneath
The wings and along their edges by pure
white plumes. and his legs and bill are
! vivid scarlet. He is great beauty
now.
But, alas, poor fellow he loses his
beauty soon enough. When he arrives
It the mature age Of one year his lovely
plumage must be pIueked and marketed.
Formerly, N his wild state, the onls
method known for this process was Il
sswind him down. and strip hin of hi.
7iumes after his hard death. Now hi
IS plucked with comparative ease while
very much alive, and then set free Il
grow another crop, which he usually
brings to perfection about every nins
months Only his tail and wings, how
ever, are despoiled; his body feathers
ire not disturbed.
The feat Of plucking the bird require:
only a little strategy TO accomplish i
ssziiT. Two men enter the camp to
-sshers ia one corner high stall. thrss
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