Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-05-10
osTRIcHEs ARE QUEER BIRDS.
Their Morning Danee-Eishty Years
of Conjugal Fidelity.

Their Morning Danee-Eishty Years
of coniusaI Fidelity.
There are three ostrich farms In
southern California, one in Arizona,
one in Kansas and one In Florida;
and there are not less than six thou
sand of the gigantic birds in this
country growing plumes for my lady
headgear.
The original ostrich farm in South
Pasadena is annually visited by thou
sands Of tourists. The big birds are
kept in fields enclosed with high
fences. They appear to be as tame
as domestic fowls, but 1t Is not safe
for strangers to take too much for
granted, as the male bird is often Ill
tempered and his kick is worse than
that of a mule.
Early morning visitors witness the
most interesting performances OF the
birds, the matin waltz. When the
suns first rays strike across the field
says the Rosary Magazine, the birds
take their morning exercise to stretch
their muscles and Danish the chill of
the night.
The larger ones begin the perfor-
nance with a slow, stately dance
something like a minuet. Presently
the whole flock joins in the measure,
stepping high and weaving In and
out in what seems to be set though
complicated figure.
| AS the dance proceeds the speed OF
the movement increases; then the
birds begin to whirl about and pres
entity the quadrille merges into a
waltz. The dancers, holding their
heads high, raise their wings and
spread their plumes in the sunshine
and in pairs waltz solemnly, strenu-
ously for a quarter Of an hour.
| Viewed from a distance, a band OF
waltzing ostriches-when the birds
are in full feather-is beautiful pic
ture. At close range the preternatu-
raj gravity Of the bird engaged In the
seemingly frivolous pastime OF the
waltz makes him an irresistibly COM
ic figure.
| Ostrich farms are most attractive
to visitors at plucking time, once In
nine months. To one never having
witnessed the operation 1t seems quite
a formidable task to capture and
hold a three hundred and fifty pound
bird and relieve it of its plumage.
| But the farmer has devised way
that makes it very simple process.
Selecting a bird whose plumes are
ready to pluck, he is enticed with
sugar beets into a triangular enclos-
ure, thence to the narrow end, and
there imprisoned with bars.
The ostrich Is enraged when he
finds that he is imprisoned, but In a
moment his head is enveloped in a
sack, and being blinded, he becomes
quiet and submissive. "he plucking
is painless.
| Only the smaller feathers are pull
ed as the feathers are plucked from
geese. The large plumes are cut with
care to preserve the sockets of the
quill from injury.
Natural white or pure black
plumes require only washing and
curling, but most of the plumes are
gray and must be dyed for the mar
ket. The raw feathers are sold In
San Francisco and New York, where
they are prepared for the trade by
being washed, dyed, starched, curled
and pieced. The ostrich plume on
lady's hat is no more like the feather
as worn by the bird than seal skin
Jacket is like the natural fur Of his
original wearer.
When the ostrich is three or four
years old he chooses mate for LIE.
The usual span of ostrich life is about
eighty years. 1t will be seen, there
fore, that this singular bird Is mod
ell of homogeneous fidelity.
Also, he is a model husband, for he
does more than half Of the family
work. The male partner makes the
nest by kicking a hole in the ground
foot deep and three feet across and
when the twelve or fifteen eggs are
laid he takes his turn at Matching. di-
viding the time with his partner In
even watches.
Forty days are required to hatch
the eggs, which are in proportion to
the size of the bird. When the
chicks come out the cock must be Sc
uuestered, for in captivity he devel-
ops a reprehensible propensity to in
fanticide, forgetting all the trouble
| he has taken to hatch out a family.
| Often there is surplus Of eggs on
the ostrich farm, and the hotels In
the vicinity are supplied with the
material for omelets at fancy prices.
| Curiosity induces tourists to pay those
prices and they have been known to
affirm a liking for ostrich egg ONE
let's. The shell of an ostrich egg Is
so thick that even the hard kicking
cock bird could use one as a football
without damaging it.
| The experience of California os-
trich farmers is that about thirty per
cent of the eggs deposited in the nest
are not fertile. Several days after
the Matching process has begun the
eggs are tested by placing them, one
at a time, in a funnel and raising 1t
toward the sun.
| If a dark spot shows in the egg it
is probably fertile. If not it is
| thrown out of the clutch. The incu-
bator has been successfully used af-
ter the eggs have been a couple of
weeks under the birds. In about six
weeks the baby ostrich may be heard
inside the shell, and then it is in or
der to crack the horny case and let
the little chap out into the air.
| WANTED A SAMPLE.-"Children said
| Judge Willard McEwen, at dinner
| in Chicago, ARE the great home build
ers A lack of children means unhap-
piness, divorce. In the majority OF the
| divorce suits that l pass on, and l
pass on 100 a month-the couples are
between 80 and 40 years of age and
| chidless.
$50 children should be priced and
| 1acpita thair