The Yale expositor., 1910-07-22


between Los Angeles and
Pasadena, farm that con-
tains 200 gigantic birds. The guide
informed us that some seventeen odd
years ago fifty birds were brought
from South Africa by Mr.. Cawston, the
proprietor OF these, several died on
board ship, others after their arrival,
and few only eventually became &C.
climatized The latter bred and multi
piled. other birds were added and
cross breeding, the fine climate, care,
regular and good feeding, brought
these farm ostriches to be the supe-
riors of the wild birds which have to
struggle for existence on the African
deserts.
The first and largest of the corrals
contains the Kindergarten. Fine chill.
dren II held of various ages, continu-
ously on the move, after the restless
manner of youth. The boys wear
black coats, you will perceive" said
our cicverone, ''the girls gray, which
undertaking uniform Is an assistance
20 strangers In determining sex, for
the females run the males close in
size The babies are round that corner
the same side" Three had recently
been Matched out of a sitting of six
teen. "One dropped of, and then
there were two!" Two perky little
ones, of ten days old, with funny stub
by little backs, looking as II tousled
horse-hair replaced the soft down OF
the callow period common to most
birds, but the body such perfect ovals
that. tuck in the heads and legs, and
prestro: one perceives they could
again adriotly refit into their vacated,
big. creamy-hued shells. The parent
birds, we learnt, concern themselves
little about thier young after their ad-
vent. Possibly the forty days they
are engaged over the Matching salts
fies their .paternal and maternal In
stincts. AT any rate, in this farm they
are brought up by hand by an atten-
dant, as they require to be dealt with
judiciously to tide over the early
months of babyhood For the first
four days they are unfed, after which
they are allowed alfalfa, and they pick
up gravel to aid digestion, being bus
lily employed thereat as we surveyed
the couple, with the adroit alacrity of
a robin picking up worms out Of the
newly-turned soil in our northern
lands. Seemingly sturdy as are their
little frames, they have to be shek.
tered at night even in equable Cali
fornia, for damp or chill would en-
endanger them at this early period OF
growth.
In the marital relationship the os-
trich sets a good example to all
classes of society. 1t is constant In
attachment, never attempting, but re-
senting, divorce. The mate shares
the long-dafwn-out hours of incuba-
rion with the hen, the wife of his
choice. At the age OF four the male
bird seeks his spouse, and having
found one to his liking, sticks to her
and to her only and when she pre-
cents him with the eggs that are to
carry on their kind, he does turn and
turn about in the sitting, and some
times extra innings, the good lady be-
ing exercised at the outset by the lay
ing of an egg about three pounds In
weight-each equal 10 thirty chicken
eggs.
Alternate days until thirty days give
them a store worthy their devotion to
the further requisite weeks demanded
for the bringing into being. There Is
no billing and cooling and gathering
up of material for nest-making. Such
big nest II would have to be! In
stead, in their native state the birds
scoop out the warm sand and deposit
the eggs therein; and at this Pasa-
dena breeding corral, on a corner OF
the bare ground, lay an incompleted
heap which, when the tally was com
pleted, the huge patient birds would
start on, without the doing of much
beyond the covering of the giant eggs
with their giant bodies.
As they sit In the open, readily dis
cernable to the naked eye, in the clear
air of their native regions. nature has
provided them with suitable colored
feathering. The gray of the female
for the daylight. the black Of the male
for the night hours. But on this our
visit. Mr.. Washington had obligingly
not tarried for the shadows, but was
lolling on the eggs that good Mrs