The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-11-29

Los Angeles. Cal. Nov. 27.-Wiil
some kind psychoanalyst please
analyxe the>mind Of the ostrich?
This. In the opinion Of the keeper
of ostriches at the Los Angeles
ostrich farm. is precisely what the
ostrich needs. The queer bird has
one of the meanest dispositions to
be found outside the human fam
fly. He exhibits many symptoms
of typical neuroses. And he pos
sesses peculiar. puritanical ideas on
the questions Of sex. In his pretu-
dices, perversities and stupidities,
indeed, the bird 10 almost human.
In the first place, the ostrich is
abnormally finiky about mating.
Some birds remain determined
bachelors all their lives and every
one chooses his mate only with
great delay and caution. Usually
1t takes two or three years Of ear
nest and patient courtship on the
part of the female astrich before
she ensnares her prey. But once
captured, the male ostrich is her
devoted slave for life. He fiutters
snxiously about her while she sits
on the family eggs and takes up an
unnecessarily combatant attitude,
one deadly toe nail raised for fight,
whenever another bird or the keep
er ventures within 10 feet of her.
II she dies, moreover, he remains
melancholy widower to the end OF
his days.
When the present keeper first
came to this ostrich farm. he very
much doubted the ostrich's sin
certify on this point Il had heard
about 1t, but l didn't believe it," he
said. So when one of the males
was widowed as the result Of his
wife getting her head caught in
the fence. the keeper picked out
the finest female in the flock and
offered her as a substitute. She
was in the pen just three seconds
he says, when he had to risk his
own life to get her out. AS it was
she received such a hard kick that
she nearly died, and she is now in
the hospital pen. a sad and crest.
fallen bird-a woman scorned.
The female ostrich has no such
scruples when it comes to re-
marrying. and is polite. il not en-.
thusiastic, to every sutton intro.
duced to her. Once in a long white
also. a male bird is found who il
not so sternly monogamistic. There
| is one Of this type at the farm who
has condescended to espouse two
wives. They call him Brigham
Young"
A Deadly Kick.
When the ostrich administers {
fighting kick with his great pointed
toe nail, it is usually all over will
his victim, be it bird, lower ANNA
or man. This fact, combined will
his tricky. mean disposition, makes
the care Of ostriches an exciting
occupation. Fortunately. however
the bird is easily subdued by a yer,
simple thing-a black stocking. Al
the keeper has to do is to slip ;
long black stocking over the heat
Of an obstreperous ostrich and h,
Immediately becomes as Harmless!
as a hen. Blinded in this fashion
by stocking, one of the prize as
Itriches at the farm even permit.
himself to be harnessed to ligh
wagon. which he pulls in giant
ungainly strides around the path a
the farm, greatly to the delight o
the tourists, who love to have them
selves photographed in the amaz
ing rig.
The Los Angeles ostrich farm i
merely the city headquarters of ;
much larger farm which is situatei
far out in the valley away from tn
path of the travelling public. Their
hundreds of ostriches are kept il
q semi-wild state and great acre
Of alfalfa grown for their food. Blu
as the city farm is an exact dupli
cate on smaller scale, the touris
feels that he has received his mon
} ey's worth when he pays his 5
cents to see how ostrich feather
are produced in California.
At one end Of the enclosure Il
which the few city birds are con
tanned is a small incubator plan
Here a few OF the huge, speckle
eggs, weighing anywhere froI
three and half to five pounds, ar
always on exhibit. Visitors ar
permitted to handle them, and oc
casionally they are sold, for, con
trary to popular belief. ostrich egg
are quite palatable. Ostrich hen
lay on an average Of every othe
day during the laying season. TIL
eggs take ~ days to hatch in th
incubator (the birds are never al
lowed to do their own Matching
and after the chicks emerge fror
the shell they are left in the incu
bator for a couple. of days unit