Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-09-29
TIE eupEPTIc OSTRICH.
He Eats Nails, Screws ana n"''eA"c''
and Lives to n Green Old Age
fst. Louis Globe Democrat

Lives to n Green Old Age.
1885,. Louis Globe Democrat
Americans in general must be in posses:
sion of vast fund OF varied. accurate, and
| vol authenticated ignorance about o.
sr;ches This is the conclusion reached
NV n rcporter after nm hours conversation
With a professional ostrich farmer. The
Gentleman is Mr.. II. q. Reid. who paid
Si1 0Oil and gave five years hard work to
scouire what he knows. He IS Scotch
man of education aud intelligence. and
/ has rare faculty Of making people take
| an interest in what interests him. lie has
| spont several months III teaching Califor-
| mans how to get little profit out OF os-
| frich farming. and it was his experiences In
| California that led him to give the data
| for this article.
After paving his respects to the unscien-
| t,fic practices of the California ostrich
| fanciers. Mr.. Reid gave some interesting
data about the habits of the birds. lie
has small respect for tie intellectual en-.
dowments of the ostrich. "Ihc ratio OF
| the parouuets brain 10 his entire bulk u
| as TO IS, that of the eagle ~ to 60, ard
That of the ostrich a. TO 200" said Nr.
Reid: 80 ono doesn't expect him 10 At
| tain TO any sublime heights OF culture.
And yet to watch the male and female os-
t-ich about the nest is To- conceive the great
est respect for their propagatiye instinct.
The ostrich egg. from the time 1t Is lad un-
I'll incubation is complete, requires daily
attention The idea that it Is Matched in
the sand by tire heat of Che sun il non
sense. That notion comes or the fact That
| the bird, being very timid. runs away on
| the approach of any creature 1t concciges
| to be n toe, and before going usually rakei
| the sand up around and over the nest TO
| retain the heat which the eggs had re-
ceved from its body. and the discovery Of
such deserted nests nearly Matched out
| has further strengthened the taliacy. But
| the fact is that the ostrich egg requires
ton. which lasts forty two days;
requires slight moisture, VIII ch it re-
ceives 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 in
peratiye. For the first two weeks II IL l04
| degrees Fahrenheit: for the third week.
| 1902: fourth. 100; fifth, SO sixth. 6. his
| is provided by nature in the steadily fall
| ing temperature Of the birds body, due
| TO the receipt OF less nourisnment than at
| other times, and in the incubator 1t must
| be looked after by careful attendants.
Now. does anybody suppose that all these
| conditions can be met by Simply heaplng
| the eggs with sand? Yet the ostrich
| watches all these points.
The male. by the way. does most of
| the hatchinG-sittIng on the nest sixteen
hours out of the twenty -four-and j have
| seen him hold his post for twenty-tour
| hours. when the hen refused to come and
| relieve him. And when the hen leaves the
nest before her turn comes to geek food
| the male will al once take her place. al
| though she does not show the same solicit
| tude when by any chance he deserts the
| eggs. And, strangely enough, though the
| ostrich often reseuts the INVASION of hls
! corral by strangers at other times than nd
| ring incubation, he will allow any one TO
approach the nest while he is on guard
| without taking the slightest offence.
1t Il q curiosity to watch him Assist the
Matching out process. AS soon a. he sees
l the beak or toe sticking through the SHELL
| he will take the egg up by the protruding
bill or foot. lift il two or three feet. and
drop It on the ground until II breaks. 1
| have seen hun release two chicks IL once
| by dropping one egg upon the o;ner ia
| this way"
| Mr.. Keld does not gainsay any OF the eS-
traOrdlnarv stories that are told OF the
/ ogtrich's wonderful powers OF digestion.
On the contrary, he believes that there Is
nothing too hard to he ground up between
| the small stones with winch ITS stomach ~
always partially filed. nnen handling
Ostriches Oh exhibition Mr. Reid has been
in the habit OF allowing tho people 10 give
them nails. screws. and even POCKET
knives. And TO show that such seemingly
indlgestibie substances are disposed OF
within the stomach OF the bird he relates
the following incident:
while | mad 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 bantercd HIN to iced his cigar - TIE
| Osirlch-a hen. lie took his knife from his
pocket to cut the cigar in TWO. but before
| he could DO So ;h. ostrich reached over the
fence. took the knife from ms fingers and
swallowed 1t. The two young men then
ran away. thinking they had killed
her Noticing the comnoton,
approached the others III the crowd
o. visitors and inquired the cause. They
| told me in great trepidation, IA though
great injury had been done. [ told them
that the bird was all rght, and 70 prove t
offered to let her swallow another knlfe.
One was quickly handed out. and she dis
posed of THAT also. Then, TO establish the
1 wonderful gas,TOnomic vigOr ot the spe-
| cles held cut few small screws III the
| palm oi my hand, and she Cobbled them
| up iiko corn. hfterward. during the fol-
| lowing fortnight. permitted her - swal-
| low screws. as indeed had ofton done tc-
| fore, to show the people that the bra
| would eat anything That took the eye.
! Three weeks later sne escaped the cor
raj and broke her leg while the attendants
| were trying to recapturc her. or course
| she hal to be killed. and on opening her
| stomach found IL few small bits OF bright
| steel. which | could see had been parts oi
| the screws, but all the sharp edges had
| been ground oil by the stones and gravel
| in the stomach. | found no traces of the
| knives Whatever. and am satisfied
| that they, as well az the screws
| first swallowed. mad been entirely
| dIgested-or partly eaten away by the
powerful gastric juice, and partly ground
up by the stones and gravel In ano.her
ostrich's stomach | found what mad been
small coil Of wire. with the metal eaten
entirely through IN places. When took
| the ostriches to the fairs ! allowed a crowd
| To gather about on the first DAY, ana then
threw in few watermelon rinds. potatoes.
| carrots. and other vegetables. After that
| | mad no more bother about food for the
birds the visitors kept them gorged."
| The longevity of the ostrich Is a quality
| that commends 1t to capitalists. On TINS
point Mr.. Reid made the following state
inent: Arthur Douglass, poor sheep
! farmer near Grahaln's Town, South Africa,
was the pioneer ostrich farmer. lie started
| IN 1865 with eleven wild bird chicks. and.
finding that they could be raised in cap
tivity, he started to supply the market
| with domestic feathers. lie has raised and
sold thousands of chicks and stocked
| many Of the surrounding ranches, has
marketed thousands of dollars worth OF
feathers, and still has the eleven original
wild birds breeding. and yielding good
| marketable feathers"