Kansas City daily journal., 1895-08-11
ON AN OSTRICH FARM.
rLOCKs OF THE BIO BIRDS IN
CALIFORNIA.
oranges Are the Things they Like Best,
Though they win Eat Everything In
sight-pluckIng tho Feathers
and Counting the Profits.

There are two ostrich farms In Cali.
fornia. one is at Norwalk and the other
at Coronado Beach, the resort just
across the bay from San Diego Interest
ot tourists Is divided between the little
old adobe church of the Mexican village
OF Old san Diego, where Ramona, Helen
Hunts Indian heroine, is said to have
been married, and the ostrich farm kept
10y w II Bentley, within a few minutes
walk OF the hotel at the beach. The
farm has sixty-fve birds, writes a San
Diego tCal) correspondent of the New
/ York sun Whether spreading their
/ wings aud fitting along in their Pc
/ Culidr Delsartean gait, or greedily
sDatchug at whatever morsels come in
/ their way they are droll and interest
/ ing.
/ Everybody has heard the expression,
"a stomach like an ostrichs" but no
/ body can quite realize the significance Of
the comparison until he attends Il
| luncheon given to the creatures and
watches them dispatch their food. They
eat all sorts Of vegetables, but above all
things they like oranges. The avidity
with which they seize and gulp down
whole oranges Is at once startling and
amusing. When their keeper appears
with fine orange in his hand there is a
scramble and futtering of great fluffy
wings. The fortunate fellow who gets the
fruit bolts IL at once and stands blink
ing his satisfaction while the orange
slowly travels by easy stages down his
long throat. Cabbage leaves, beet tops,
natural grasses, alfalfa, bits of broken
shell and gravel are all esteemed great
luNuries by these ungainly birds.
The 3-months-old chick stands fully
four feet high. The female does not ma
ture until years old, nor the male until
o. The color of the young birds is brown
in general effect, and the hens retain
that hue AS the cock nears maturity
he turns a deep, glossy black. and gets a
row OF pure white plumes among those
OF jet. Down the front of each leg is
stripe of vivid red. and a ring of the
same color surrounds the big, vicious
eyes giving the creature a peculiarly
rakish and dissipated appearance. The
cock is at times very ugly to manage,
and the hens, too must be carefully
handled. They particularly dislike
strangers, and visitors are always cau-
toned to keep long way from the pad
dock.
AS fast as the birds mate the pairs
are confined in the paddock. Just after
the rainy season sets in the hens begin
to lay The nest is a most primitive
arrangement-merely an excavation,
about three feet across. scratched in the
sandy soil. Every other day an egg is
deposited in this nest until the hen is
satisfied with the number Then the cock
turns to and does the principal part of
the setting. Every afternoon at o'clock
he relieves the hen and does not quit
the nest until o'clock the next morning,
5ilsttpE sNins tie lyrtale Ulis 'ne slIoLl
t' We, y @ iI7 ~ NalVii, I'e US Sual tuS I'm,
incubator as fast as they are laid. In
this case the hen will often lay thirty
eggs before resting. Then, after an in
terVal of SIX weeks, she resumes her
WE, MoIh' tI'e oStIlIh saILhS, tah Couilt u.
uI,oII tHitS PtiIous oL i'louu NeI!ess III
Il year anu an aggregate ol seNenty-tWo
70 ninety esss rom eacH heh. IN Cah-
tolIla Ihe tsES Halch IN lVtIE uaS
W. udEs Sopi'er IH"H M AitAra ny
uHilateu piIuS are 4iipWPu 10 heru' anu
arr ,, hl'oN II a. tl'e ltd'iel uooPi
ne pIughIHE toitigS one III zen
III, LoIitlS' anu ~ d ul,IltulC "LiutL t"h'I,s'
me lrst plucklhs taxes plaCe Wheh the
CLICK ca Ie is mont Ii! olu me lea !iers are
CI llItiIo, HuaIlt\ anu are uSeu 10 max
., uuSleIS' HESe I- IL! ita'ittIs are cdlIT9
spdHohTS, w heh tHe ciiich Is year olu
l'S iedlntIs can ne uStu loE trimmings,
AZ years u Eoou Llulne can De obtalLeu
ana! anu ailst tldL n Jmr p''u - u reg uldr
PI"duCrr ol me IIuHies' As tuIe vatn
M!"G iuILilSHtS W. PIuH4'S' NHHe apoul
10 are ootaiueu from ne IAN; thaknus
more IMAM oVo IealheIS 10 eaeh plFu. ne
ldiI leathttS are termed DOCS III
osrIlch SAM
me llelnneIS oI the regular leather
Troop are uociIe enough "neh uhdIs-
lurpea, nut II PROVOKED III lhe IeaSt grow
very ugly IL II necessary 20 nlhdloIu
the birdS before pIuchihs' Iney are
bfouEhl INTO the pad4oek ana Whlle en-
gagged IN I'GulHs on the corn or CapDase
leaves when nave n"tn thrown TO them
TWO men VINO nave nau tNpenence IN me
Wolh approach Se!H" lhe uItd bS the
neck ana quickly lhiusl !ohE hood
over ms heaa. lhe oS'tch Is then
lorceu INTO an lholoSuIe about Ihree lett
square ana gate Is closed oehIhd II.
IT is necessary, still TO hold the bird,
th3ush Whie Is hooH'a ~ rarely SHOWS
iSht. ihe pumeS are Snlpped on ana
the stun or each Pnlli Is allowed 10 re
main until the juices nave been diverted
INTO other growing leatheIs Inc STUB
then becomes transparency to IN" eye and
is pulied ou'; Nller the oStilch mas
heeh pluckea IT'S thlSh is marked with
pulled out IhuS 1t requires but a
glance from the ostrich farmer TO learn
the condition OF any bird IN his fock'
When a breeding cock is TO be plucked
real trouble begins, This bird Is always
defiant and ugly, ana, II one simply ap-
proaches the paddock, Will glare and
hiss ylciously lie is a fighter too, US
ing his queer stuhby hoots as weapons
and having the pugllists trick Oh kick
ing forward. Feeding the cock aValls
l,ttle, lie IS usually iaunted ana Knocked
until he is furious when muscular fell
lows seize him around the neck, and,
bending the head TO the ground, hood
nut ne lireS out ms raptofs by the time
lue IlA'hlHS ~ NbIts An average