214 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCGIEPY. 
it, in walking, an easy, mincing motion, suggestive of the great 
speed which it can attain when running. 
Both the emeus and the Ostriches have a remarkable dance, 
which is sometimes practiced instinctively by mere chicks. It is 
a startling sight—yet one which can be seen almost every spring 
day in our Zoological Park—to see two of these great birds start 
at opposite ends of their corral and begin whirling round and 
round until they become almost a blur, the centrifugal force rais- 
ing them upon their very toe-tips, like ballet dancers. Little by 
little they approach, wings whirring round, widely extended, 
when, suddenly they stop, facing each other, mouths open, 
reaching up eight or nine feet into the air. 
Ostrich plumes are the only feathers which come to our mil- 
linery stores unstained by the murder of their owners. In Cape 
Colony, southern California, Arizona and other places, large 
ostrich farms have been established, and the annual product of 
ostrich plumes commands so high a price that these farms have 
proven quite profitable. The existence of the species will be pro- 
longed by the fact that they breed readily in captivity. Even yet, 
many birds are killed for their feathers ; but, roaming as some of 
them do, far into the African deserts, it is to be hoped that their 
total disappearance in a wild state may be long delayed. 
It is stated that in 1862 the first attempt at ostrich-farming was 
made in the Cape Colony. Three years later only eighty tame 
birds were reported; but so great was the final success of the 
experiment that in 1875 it was estimated that there were 50,000 
Ostriches in confinement in South Africa. Since that date the 
number has more than doubled. In 1875 the feather product was 
reported worth about $2,000,000, and from the years 1881 to 1883 
the value of the “crop” was estimated at about $5,000,000 a year, 
from South Africa alone. In addition to the above, Egypt ex- 
ports feathers annually to the amount of about $1,250,000; and 
the Barbary States about $100,000 worth. 
A hen Ostrich will lay about ninety eggs in a year; and from 
these about sixty chicks will hatch, worth on emergence from the 
shell about twenty-five dollars apiece. At six months their value 
amounts to from seventy-five to a hundred dollars a bird. The 
eggs of captive birds are usually hatched in a large incubator, the 
time of incubation being about forty days. The chicks have 
none of the ungainliness of their parents, but are well-propor- 
tioned and are covered with a delicate speckled down. 
Let us hope that the ease with which these birds are reared 
in captivity may enable them to share the earth with us for many 
