Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-09-19
PLUMES OF OSTRICHES
HOW THEY REACH THEIR APO
THEoSIS ON A WOMAN'S HAT.
Facts About the Big and Greedy Birds
Their Diet and Habits
Preparing Feathers.
From the New York Tribune.

! From the New York Tribune.
An ostrich plume passes through nearly as
many hands before reaching its apotheosis
on a woman's head as pair of shoes in its
| evolution from the hide to the completed
| product. The crude feather growing on the
bird is as unlike It's brilliant, softly waving
self of the retail counter, both in hue and
| texture, as an egg in the nest Is unlike an
| omelet aux fine herbes.
The part that women play in this evolu-
ton is naturally considerable. There is
| nothing more distinctly feminine than a
| fluffy, foamy ostrich tip, except 1t be a bit
| of real lace and either will warm the cock
| les Of the average woman's heart to about
| an equal extent Well, out in California
| (Which seems to be a sort of national head
| quarters for the ostrich industry there are
| big factories where hundreds of women are
| employed at dressing the feathers. Many
are French girls for a French woman s
dexterity stands her in good stead in this
! occupation. They wash, dye, steam, piece
| and curl the feathers, and sometimes they
end by wearing them, too for many of the
| processes call for considerable skill and ex-
perience, and a hand gets good wages.
| With the raising of the feathers for the
| market women are not much concerned,
| and any one who has visited ostrich
| farm will readily see the reason why. A
| full grown bird averages $50 pounds in
| weight. Its spindle shanks of legs are ter
minated by wicked three pronged feet and
| its kick-it kicks out in front. instead of be-
| hfnd-will kill a man. John T. Millen, who
| is In charge of a farm on the Jersey coast,
says he has seen an ostrich kill a horse.
The ostrich struck the horse in the side,
breaking four of It's ribs at one blow, and
the unhappy animal lived only an hour af-
ter the attack.
Afectation.
People who, like Mr. Millen, enjoy the
acquaintance of an extensive circle Of os-
triches in various parts of the world, such
as South Africa, California, Arizona, the
Riviera and Abysslnia claim for them tina t
they are not SO silly as they look. This is
has little dignity and less beauty. The
| males are black, the females a dull mouse
color, and both alike are shabby, disheveled
and dissipa ted-looking birds Their gait Is
cross between a mince and stalk and al
| together affected. This sense Of the affec-
| tation of the ostrich is increased when 1t
! draws itself up to its full height and looks
at person. Then only camel can look
siliier or more affected or more contemptu-
| Gus.
| The ostrich is of an inuuiring turn of
mind. 1t seems to be one Of It's chief aims
| in life to survey mankind from China to
| Peru, and not only mankind, but all phe-
nomena' whether of animate or inanimate
| nature. To this end it pecks at the border
| of parasol, nibbles the brim of hat, ex-
| plores masculine pockets with buccaneer-
Ing spirit and sometimes plucks at a ran
| Is looking the other way The fact Is, 1t
| Is dying of curiosity. 1t wants to investi-
gate things worse than special commits
| sfoner ever did, and nothing will suffice but
a personal examination.
Friendly Disposition.
Besides being inquistive, the ostrich is
| friendly in disposition. Where 1t is used to
being handled and petted 1t is pre-emi-
nently social. When big bird confronts
etchi ;l,a
neck as high as 1t will go, and fixing one in
it's wide, unwinking, impressive stare, it is
almost more than one can do to keep from
laughing in it's face. Not that the ostrich
would mind that at all. 1t would continue
to stare for several minutes more with it's
mild, innocent gaze, until, It's attention ar
rested, perhaps by particularly inviting
| pebble or scrap of newspape per, 1t would sud
| denly drop all concern In one. Afterward
| one would recall that Its eyes were large
| and of luminous brown; that their ex-
| preston was tender and a little wist full !;
| that the lashes were long and beautiful,
| and that when it winked the lower lid met
| the upper half half way across the pupil.
| The ostrich's ears are little, woody affairs,
| lying fiat against its head.
| Ostriches are plucked for their pluma ge
| every nine months. The birds are taken
one at a time, and after being blindfolded
| are driven into a V-shaped Enclosure. For
| hundreds of generations ostriches have la
| bored under the impression that to secure
|
| necessary to bury their heads in the sand.
| So to this very day one has only to blind
| fold an ostrich to render him docile. Then
| the plucking begins. While one man banks
! him up from the rear to hold him STILL an
| other. operating also from the rear in order
! to avoid kicks. swiftly goes through the
| plumage, picking out the mature feathers
| with a straight pull-no twist, or he would
| destroy the blood vessels at III root Of the
| feather-and neatly nipping with a pair of
shears those that are just ripe. The at
tendants affirm positively that the plucking
F.! does not hurt, but certainly the birds are
| very FESTIVE under the process and do not
appear to enjoy it. The plucklng concludes
with daub of red paint. administered to the
naked neck of the bird, to distinguish 1t
from its unplucked fellows.
Plucking the Birds.
Three months later the plucked bird will
be caught again and all the stumps of his
feathers pulled out. Then the new feathers
will have a chance to push up without
| danger of mutilation.
| Ostriches are strictly homogeneous. At
the age of about four years they mate, and
after that they remain faithful to each
other till death do them part AS their av-
erage span of life Is seventy years. their
| domestic habits might well be taken as a
| counsel of perfection by some human
| beings. The female lays twice year, there
| being from twelve to fifteen eggs In each
| setting. Each of the eggs measures from
| three to four inches in diameter, and con-
| tain about as much substance as thirty
| hens eggs.
1t takes forty-two days and nights to
| hatch a brood, and the father sits through
| the nights and the mother through the
| days. When Matched the chicks are tiger
| striped and the size of a common barn
| yard fowl They grow at the age of six
| inches a month until the age of nine or
ten months when they ready for their
| first plucking.