The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-06-06

swings to 1t, he will make plenty of money.
 The ostrich is a much maligned bird. Fanciful writers who explored Afica, with the intention of making their readers sit up and take notice, invented many tales about this bird that have no foundation in fact. Other errors came from inade- quate study of his habits. For instance, We have been told from babyhood that an ostrich buried his head in the sand and imagined himself hid from view. The most intimate acquantances of the os- trich even his heartiest admirers, do not claim that he Is an intelligent bird, but they deny this ealumny. He Is generally poking around in the sand looking for pebbles, but when frightened or attacked he carries his head high and his neck stiff.
 Another domestic scandal, maybe even worse than the charge of cowardice, is that the hen ostrich leaves her eggs in the sun to be ratched by the rays of Old Sol. So far from the truth is thls that 1t amounts to a libel upon both MT. and Mrs. Ostrich, for they both sit on the eggs. The husband prepares the nest by scooping out a hole in the sand. The eggs are laid in it, and when twelve or fifteen are deposited the period of incuba- tion begins. Mrs. Ostrich sits on the eggs from nine o'clock in the morning un- til about sunset. Then her lord and mas ter takes his place for the long night vigil, and does the longest watch This is kept up for forty-two days.
 The ostriches mate when they are about four years old and unless separated by death, keep up the relation for many years. Rarely does an ostrich have two wives, never does he have more. h. stances are recorded of male ostriches which refused to mate after the death of the first wife, preferring life of solitude. In the farms the mated pairs are often kept in separate inclosures, but on the large places where they are allowed free range, they establish sort of division of territory for themselves which they will defend with their lives.
 An ostrich is a long-lived bird. In cap- tivity his end generally Is the result of some accident, and it is not known how long he would live if left to himself. Birds which have been in captivity for forty years are still breeding and pro- ducing feathers. It is presumed by na- turalisits that century is about the life period of a free ostrich The birds grown on American farms, where there is plenty of succulent alfalfa, grow to greater size than in Africa. Their feathers are also broader and finer, but not quite so strong and tough as the wild ones An ostrich weighs from S75 to 45O pounds, usually stands about eight feet high, but may easily reach ten or eleven feet
 He Is nearly all legs, there being but little flesh on any other part of his body. Although he has been called the bird of the desert" and pictures have shown him carrying negro on his back across the great hot sands, as a matter of fact he will drink water every day if he can get it, and he is incapable of bearing burden for more than few miles, He will run like the wind for twelve or fifteen miles, and then fall exhausted, maybe to die. His great legs are brittle as porcelain, and most of the birds in captivity come to their end by breaking their legs in the fences. When a leg is broken there Is nothing to do but kill the bird.
 Most of the ostriches in American farms are matched in incubators. This is not new, for the Egyptians did it some three thousands years ago. If the eggs are
  many as thirty Nearly all of them are fertile and hatch out an ostrich chick, which is worth $100 when he is months old, and Is past the age of baby diseases. An ostrich egg is five inches in diameter and seven inches long. In South Africa they are highly esteemed as an article for human food. A single egg will make an omelet as large as one containing two dozen hen eggs. In the United States they are too valuable to eat, and there Is very little market for them for that use.
 Man pets the ostrich solely for his plumes sake. The most ungainly of all birds, his wing and tail feathers, are the most beautiful. Unlike all other birds, the ostrich family is furnished with wing feathers in which the quill exactly dl- vides the feather in the center In other birds the quill Is always slightly to one side. The ancient Egyptians noticed this. and therefore selected the ostrich feather as the sacred emblem of truth and jus tic. In modern Europe the ostrich feather is a feather of the court dress in nearly every country. The United States bought all its feathers from England until 1880, when 1t began direct importation from South Africa. The popularity of the plumes in this country has increased steadily. until now 1t is the chief market, consuming all the home production and the greater part of the African output
 The first American ostrich farm was es- tablished at San Diego, Cal, byiW. II. Bentley, in 1Ss3 The first South African farm had been started by Arthur Doug lass in 1867. Before that the supply of feathers had depended upon the native hunters. Argentina took up the business also, and the consequence was that the price of ostrich plumes dropped rapidly. Then the great American demand came along and prices were restored In part, but the fabulous prices of sixty years ago will never be reached again.
 The ostriches are plucked every eight months. A total of S30 feathers is taken from each bird, including the twenty six long black or gray plumes from the wings. The larger feathers are clipped a uifh scis axnd ha rt,aal