The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-11-10
FIGHTING OSrRIC6ES,

"A few days ago there was battle
royal at the Coronado ostrich farm.
just across the bay, which, for ferocity
OF purpose and certainty of execution,
outdid anything of the kind that hu-
name society ever undertook to stop.
The fighters were two full-grown cocl,
ostriches. Jim" and Colonel" and
the sight during the combat was one
that the few people who CHANGED ia
witness 1T will not soon forget.
A three-hundred-p pound ostrich with
his anger thoroughly aroused is as for
midable foe as the most daring sports.
man would care to face. The big birds
kick Is in itself peculiar thing, as well
| as vicious. The sweep of the powerful
leg Is forward, with a motion not I'M
| Ike that of boxers arm shot straight
from the shoulder. The bony, pointed
toe, driven by the hard, tough leg mus
cles, easily penetrates an ineh-thiclS
board of redwood or three-fourths of
an inch of Oregon pine, which is not
much softer than oak. Besides, the
rapidity and accuracy with which the
ostrich kicks are surprising.
The fight at the Coronado farm wa.
entirely informal. Keeper Campbell
had served luncheon to the thirty or
forty bipeds in the ostrich yard. The
birds ate the cabbage leaves and grain
with avidity, crowding together as
hens crowd about corn in a barnyard.
Peace reigned until two old cocks
wanted to eat the same cabbage leaf.
The ostrich has short temper. In
about thirty seconds these three-hun-
dred-pound cocks squared off for
go-as-you-please fight, and royal fight
1T was in the eyes of the keeper as he
saw plumes worth ten dollars each soar
from the body Of a bird in response to
the kick of the enemy, and fall crum-
pied and worthless in the dust Feathers
did not count for much in the flashing
eyes of the ostriches-they wanted
blood. With deep hiss and out
stretched wings Jim bore down on
Colonel like gale, sheered to the right
and caught on the left thigh, ripping
the thick skin from the leg. Colonel
retaliated, almost crippling Jim's wing
with kick that all but capsized him.
They then spared with feet and beaks,
picking and kicking feathers from one
another, until Colonel dealt terrific
blow on Jim's body which seemed to
literally lift him from the ground.
Only the thick mass of feathers pre-
vented the terrible toe from penetrat-
ing Jim's abdomen. Regaining his
hraa Z IN Him lyrnel-a1 Colonel
a side kick. breaking his wing. Colonel
regained his feet before the attack was
renewed. Both birds had lost their
long plumes and looked as if they had
just been plucked. Both were tired
and weak from loss of blood. Their
attacks grew feebler, and finally. as if
by common consent, they ceased fight
ing and walked off among the bushes
to recuperate. The fight was draw,
and the anxious keeper was glad that
the birds were alive. They are worth
three hundred and fifty dollars each.
During the fight no man dared trust
his life near the. fighters. Experienced
keepers seldom try to interfere with
fighting animals If they do the com
bined anger of both birds is likely to
fall upon the meddler, and end in his
death A single kick from one of these
ostriches would simply disembowel a
man. -
There are now six hundred or seven
hundred ostriches in this state, each
yielding about fifty dollars worth of
undressed feathers annually. 1t costs
three cents a day to feed each bird. All
eggs are Matched in incubators, about
50 per cent. Matching successfully.
The chicks are allowed to run about in
the sunshine shortly after Matching, /
and several days after birth they begin /
eating tender vegetable sprouts. For /
nine months or so they are kept away /
from adult birds lest their elders kill /
them. Until three months old a chick I
can be bought for twenty-five dollars /
In several years they attain maturity. |
and sell for from three hundred dollars !
to five hundred dollars. Selected /
feathers, especially the long white 4
plumes- sell for one hundred dollars a /
pound Considering the individual |
value OF ostriches and the annual |
WELD il is small wonder that the keep
ers look upon battles like that across
the bay as something in the nature of !