The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-09-27
THE EUPEPTiC OSTRICH.
He Eats Nails, Screws and Knife
Blades, and Lives to an Old age.

Blades, and Lives to an Old Age.
From the 81. Louis Globe Democrat.
Americans in general must be in posses
sion of vast fund of varied, accurate ant
Northumberland ignorance about o.
triches. This is the conclusion reached by
q reporter after on hour 9 conversation with
professional ortrich farmer. The gentle
man Ia II. g. Reid, who paid Il, 900 and
gaFef five years hard work TO acquire what
he knows. He is a Scotchman or education
and intelligence, and has rare faculty of
making people take an interest in what in
terests him. He has spent several months
in teaching CalIfornians how to get little
profit out of ostrich farming, and it was his
experiences in California that led him to
give the data for this article.
After paying bis respects to the unscien-
titic practices of the California ostrich
fancieTs, Mr.. Reid gave some interesting
data about the habits Of the birds. He has
small respect for the intellectual endow-
ments Of the ostrich THE ratio of the
paroquet's brain to his entire bulk is as l to
4S, that of the eagle as ! to 60, and that Of
the ostrich as to !, 200" said Mr.. Reid; $50
one doesn't expect him to attain to any sub
lime nights of culture. And yet to watch
the male and female ostrich about the nest
is to conceive the greatest respect for their
propagatiye instinct The ostrich egg, from
the time it is laid until incubation
is complete, requires daily attention.
The idea that it is Matched in the
sand by the heat of the sun is nonsense.
That notion comes Of the fact that the bird,
being very timid, runs away on the ap-
proach of any creature il concelves 10 be a
fee, and before going usually rakes the
sand up around and over the nest TO retain
the heat which tue eggs have received from
| 70 n ma no fe1N afr h 4 Tod
nests nearly hatched out has further
strengthened the fallacy. But the fact is
tie ostrich egg requires turning daily
during fncu baton, which lasts forty-two
days; requires slight moisture, which 1t
receives from contact with the birds
body, and requires ventilation, which the
bird provides for by standing over the nest
and turning its body about to shade the
eggs from the sun. A gradual decrease in
the temperature of the eggs is also impera-
tive. For the first two weeks 1t is 104'
Fahrenheit; for the third week, 1922 :;
fourth, 1907 fifth, $50; sixth, 96'. This is
provided by nature in the steadily falling
temperature of the birds body, due 70 the
receipt OF less nourishment than at other
times, and in the incubator it must be
looked after by careful attendants Now,
does anybody suppose that all these condi-
lions can be met by simFly heaping the eggs
with sands Yet the ostrich watches all
| these points.
The male. by the way does most of the
MISUNDERSTANDING on the nest sixteen hours
out OF the twenty.four-andI have seen him
hold bis post fer twenty hours, when the
hen refused to come and relieve him. And
when the hen leaves the nest before her
turn comes to seek food, the male will at
| once take her place, although she does not
show the same solicitude when by any
chance he deserts the eggs. And, strangely
enough, though the ostrich often resents the
| invasion OF his corral by strangers at other
times than during incubation, he will allow
any one to approach the nest while he 10 on
guard without taking the slightest offense.
ut is curiosity TO watch him assist the
hatching-out process. As soon as he sees
| the beak or toe sticking through the shell he
sill take the egg up by the protrudlng bill
| or foot, lift it two or three feet, and drop it
on the ground untiiit breaks. l have seen
him release two chicks at once by dropping
one egg upon the other in this way"
Mr.. Reid does not gainsay any of the ex-
traordinary stories that are told OF the
ostrich's wonderful powers Of digestion. On
the contrary, he believes that there is moth
ing too hard to be ground up between the
small stones with which it's stomach is
always partially filled. When handling
ostriches on exhibition Mr.. Reid has been
in the habit of allowing the people to give
them nails screws, and even pocket-knives.
And to show that such seemingly indigesti-
bic substances are disposed Of within the
stomach Of the bird he relates the folio wing
incident:
"While l had charge of the Hopkins
farm, among many visitors one day there
came two young men who seemed bent on
sport. One Of them was smoking, and the
other bantered him to feed his cigar to the
ogtrich-a hen. He took his knife from his
pocket to cut the cigar in two, but before
he could do so the ostrich reached over the
fence, took the knife from his fingers and
swallowed it. The two young men then
Noticing the commotion, | approached
the Others in the crowd of visitors
and inquired the cause. They
told me in great tYepidation, as though a
great injury had been done. l told them
that the bird was all right. and, to prove it.
offered TO let her swallow another knife
One was quickly handed out, and she dis
posed of that nlso Then, to establish the
wondrful gastronomic vigor of the species,
l held out few small screws in the palm of
my hand. and she gobbled them up like
corn. AfterYard, during the following
fortnight, l permitted her to swallow
screws, as indeed had often done before,
to show people that the bird would eat any
thing that took the eye.
4nIoc W6Shh ldU9T BIC ooCepSu Ouo CUT IA
and broke her leg while the attendants were
trying to recapture her. OF course she bad to
be killed, and on opening her stomach
found a few small bits of bright steel,
which could SEQ had been parts of the
screws, but all the sharp edges had been
ground off by the stones and gravel in
the stomach. l found no traces of the
knives whatever, and am satisfied
that they, as well as the screws
first swallowed, had been entirely
digested-or partly eaten away by the pew
ertul gastric juice, and partly ground up by
the stones and gravel. In another ostrlch'i
stomach | found what had been small coil
OF wire, with the metal eaten entirely
through in places. When l took the
ostriches to the fairs allowed a crowd &c
gather about on tho first day, and then
threw in few watermelon rinds, potatoes
carrots and other vegetables. After that
had no more bother about food for the
birds-the visitors kept them gorged.n
The longevity of the ostrich is quality
that commends it 20 capitalists. On this
point Mr.. Reid made the following state
ment: Arthur Douglass, poor sheep
farmer near GrehaR's Town, South Africa,
was the pioneer ostrich farmer. He started
in 1865 with eleven wild bird chicks, and
finding thot they could be raised in captiv-
ity, he started in to supply the market with
domestic feathers. He has raised and sold
thousands of chicks, aud stocked many OF
the surrounding ranches, has marketed
thousands of dollars worth of feathers, and
still has the eleven original wild bird.