OSTRICHES 



235 



use, and the birds are so long in maturing that it would not 

 pay to use them to produce eggs for commercial purposes. 



The breeding of ostriches for their feathers, however, may 

 be regarded as a permanent industry, for there will always be a 

 demand for ostrich plumes, but it cannot be developed as ex- 

 tensively as if the product were a staple article of food. The 

 ostrich farms in America are mostly special farms devoted ex- 

 clusively to ostrich breeding. Most of these farms are owned 



FIG. 181. Ostrich eggs and newly hatched chicks. (Photograph from the 

 Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture) 



and operated by companies. Some of them are stock speculation 

 projects. In South Africa the industry is more in the hands of the 

 general farmers, each of those engaged in it growing a few birds. 

 The people of South Africa have tried to secure a monopoly 

 in ostrich feathers by prohibiting the exportation of ostriches and 

 by purchasing the best stock to be obtained in North Africa. 

 Ostrich farming is practical only in tropical and semitropical 

 countries ; the plumage of the birds is too scanty to protect them 

 in the cold winters of temperate climes. In the United States 



