Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1900-02-23
WAYOF THE OSTRICH
OBSERVATIONS BY ONE WHO
RAISES THEM.


and the Female ls Rather Stupid
Ostrich Amusements Are Of a Pc
euliar Character.
The Phoenix. Arizona, herd Of os-
triches inhabits an alfalfa pasture Of
forty acres three miles north of the
city. The herd is second in size In Am
erica, numbering lT5 birds. the largest
herd being at Fullerton, Cal, and num-
bering 300 birds.
The first birds brought from South
Africa to America for breeding pur-
poses came to California in 1882. In
1888 fourteen chicks from this herd
were brought to Phoenix for exhibi-
tiOn, and were bought by Josiah Har-
bert, who proposed to breed them. The
purchase was made during the sum
mer and Mr.. Harbert put the young
birds in cOOps, carefully covered the
coops with cloths to keep out the sun.
and drove out to his home i'm Alham-
bra. All the birds but two were smoth-
cred to death during the trip. 1t being
impossible to distinguish between the
sexes i'm young ostriches and fearing
he had no male bird, MIR. Harbert pur-
chased one of the male birds brought
from Africa. The 11j birds cOnstitu-
ting the present herd are his descen-
dants. He has been honorably retired.
and with the dignity befitting his pa-
triarchlal position he knocks the stuff
fling out of everything that comes with
In his reach. 1t was not long ago that
he engaged NJ. Pickrell, President of
the Arizona Ostrich Company, in an
impromptu "scrap" and while Mr..
Pickrell is a husky old bird himself
and was armed with wooden pitch
fork old "Oom paur' hit him one welt
and knocked him out for several days.
The ostrich is a monOgamist. At least
he has but one wife at a time. The
matchmaking is arranged by the hui
man keeper, who puts each pair OF
birds in a separate corral. Mr.. Ostrit Il
is likely to consider the question Of
marriage for some days after he is in
trOduced to his partner, and much
thought on the question colOrs his
shins and beak a bright red. When he
finally determines that family
should be reared, he digs a nest in the
ground. He then drives his mate mp TO
the nest and calls her attention t. It
10y giving her a kick. If she is dull OF
comprehension, and she usually is he
continues to kick her and scold her.
an1 his voice much resembles the iOar
of the lion. He is often compelled o
go to the extreme of kicking her over
the S-fOot fence forming the corral.
She finally, however, sees her duty
and begins to lay eggs which ayerag
three pounds in weight. The first two
or three eggs are not fertile and " i'll
not hatch. This fact, curiOusly enough,
is known to the mother and she Jays
them outside the nest. But in this there
is a wonderful provision of nature
On the African desert the nesting of
the wild birds is done in the hills O.
mountains, far from water and the
haunts of beasts OF men. But whie
the nest may he many miles from wa
ter, the first requirement of the chick
when he comes from the shell is water
or its equivalent in liquid food. Hen e
the necessity of the two or three stcr.
lie eggs, which the mother breaks af-
ter her brood is born, and ON which
the chicks live until they are strong
enough TO travel.
Left to her own judgment the hen
lays perhaps ten eggs, at the rate of
one in two days, and when the nest
looks comfortably full, the incubation
ceives her He systematically takes
the eggs from the nest, and as long as
her work seems to be unfinished Il &
hen continues to produce eggs. BY this
system two hens on the Phoenix farm
last year produced fifty eggs each. She
cannot be deceived, however, as to the
sterile eggs. If they are put in the nest
she will continue to pull them out. and
win finally quit laying and abandon
the nest
About fifteen eggs constitute set
ting, and the period of incubation is
fOrty-twO days. The male bird does the
greater share of this labor He takes
charge of the nest at 5 o'clock i'm tic
evening and remains with it until (!
o'clock in the morning, when the fe
male takes charge. AT noon he relieves
her for an hour, while she lunches
and she then keeps house until
| o'clock.
One of the most interesting charac
teristics of the ostrich is the manner
in which he takes what may he called
his constitutional" Every morning al
sunrise the herd of young males en-
| cages in a foot race, which concludes
I'm a combination cake walk and reel
In single file they will race around tho
pasture at n two-minute gait, uni
thoroughly limbered up, and then sud
! denly forming in group 20 througl
gyrarions that suggest the waltz. The
Virginia reel, the cake walk aud The
"happy jag" 1t Is a grotesque perfor
nance, but there is a singular grace il
the birds play, and when they are il
full plumage, with their great wings
spread, the sight is beautiful.-Phoenil
Graphic.