Bisbee daily review., 1911-09-07
DINSMORE'S DISCOVERY
 THROUGH ARIZONA Well Known Mining Expert Turns Aside into Ostrich Path

though some of the hens lay in Sep tember. The earlier settings are the best When the birds are paired and
 separated, each pair to a corral, the male makes the nest. which is usually
 on a barren spot and if possible a
 bit higher than the balance of the
 ground, thus giving the bird on the
 nest a wider range of vision. The
 female investigates and sometimes
 fails to approve the building of her mate, when 1t is all done over again.
 When the eggs are laid the pair shares equally the matching, the male cover ing the nest at night, the female dur ing the day. The plumage of the
 rooster is black, that of the hen drab.
 The male bird is thus practically in visible on the nest at night, while
 during the day the drabs of the female
 blend perfectly with the sands and
 sagebrush of the desert, so she will
 hardly be noticed and thus is protect ed The chicks are matched in forty four days. On many of the farms the matching is done altogether iR incuba- tors. The chick is about a foot high
 when it emeTges from the shell, and
 
 It's neck and legs are covered with
 protuberances filled. with liquid, is
 head is wabbly and its eyes are
 glazed The liquid protuberances af- ford an example of what nature al
 ways does. In Africa there are many
 wild beasts which prey upon the os- trich, especially the young. which
 causes the old ones to go long dis tances from water to hatch. lt often Happens that a chick will not get water Until it is three weess old, but | secures all it's liquid sustenance from the protuberances. The chick does 1 not eat at all until it is three days old, as it requires that length of time to | assimilate the yoik of the egg from l which it is matched, and which is in ! it's stomach. The ostrich's stomach | is like the hogs. The sex Of the bird ! cannot be determined until it is | twelve to sixteen months old, the l pIumsge all being a downy drab until ! this time, when the feathers of the male begin to turn black. They are mated after four years of age. The l birds grow at the rate of a foot a month for the first seven months, and l the eighth month they are plucked | for the first time. The plucking is in- ! teresting. A small hood is used, this covering the head, and so soon as the ] bird is blinded it is perfectly tracta- | ble and may be led anywhere, stand ! ing perfectly quiet while the feath- CTS are being taken. The long white | wing feathers of the bottom row are | cut with scissors, leaving quill | about two inches long, which is pull l ed out with pincers a couple of | months later. The feather is ripe | when there is no blood in the quill and must not be plueked until that | time. There are three rows of feath I. CTS in the wings, the first being the
 primes" This row is protected on | the under side by numbers of silk-like feathers called floss" while on the | upper side all the feathers of the
 wing end are protected by the regu lar plumage of the bird. The tai
 feathers have no such protection
 The feathers are sorted after cutting
 by young women The day l visited
 the Pan-American I went into a room
 1OxI2 and saw ready for shipment
 about $35,00O worth of feathers. some
 of them the most beautiful imagin
 able The chick feathers are not SC
 valuable as those of the mature bird
 because in the young there is usually
 a bit Of black or drab in each of the white feathers, but all this disappears
 at about four years of age. The
 feather part of the industry is less
 advanced than the breeding. so fai
 as the market is concerned; but with
 in a short time. instead of sending the feathers to commission men who pay the producer what they wish, these
 feathers will be made up" at the
 farm. This should benefit all, for in
 stance: One of the magnificent
 long, wide, perfect wing feathers will
 bring the farmer about dollar, while ' the lady buying the same feather later
 on will pay from $3 to $i7. Some O.
 these feathers-many in fact--coms