24 STRA Y FEA THERS FROM MANY BIRDS. 



however, makes or mars many important industries, and 

 the Ostrich farmers are passing through a period of 

 severe depression. Ten years ago the best white 

 Ostrich feathers were making 60 per pound ; and a pair 

 of adult Ostriches were worth as much as .300, whilst 

 the chicks a day old realised $ a piece. Competition, 

 changes in fashion, and depression in trade have 

 brought down the price of feathers to 8 per pound, 

 and the birds have decreased proportionately in value. 

 The feathers are taken from the birds every seven or 

 eight months, either by cutting them short off with a 

 knife, or plucking them out by the roots. It takes the 

 produce of three birds to yield a pound of best feathers, 

 which are taken from the wings ; the inferior plumes 

 are from the tail. The feathers are bought from the 

 farmers by dealers who sell them again to the local 

 merchants, by whom they are shipped to various parts 

 of the world. Comparatively few Ostrich plumes find 

 their way to European markets now, the bulk of the 

 supply being sent to the busy marts of America, where 

 the feathers are at present more fashionable than in the 

 Old World. The Ostrich is a bird of the Great Desert, 

 and its plumes are an important merchandise through- 

 out the Soudan. They are gathered from wild birds 

 which the crafty Arabs hunt in their arid strongholds, 

 and are often bartered for slaves, powder and shot, and 

 other necessaries in the markets of Timbuctoo and other 



