430 NATURAL HISTORY. 



thousand ostriches in confinement in South Africa ; and since that date 

 the number has more than doubled. In 1875 the feathers reported were 

 worth about $2,000,000 ; and in 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, Egypt exports feathers to the amount of about $1,250,000 ; 

 and the Barbary States only about $100,000. Besides, there are now 

 ostrich-fa rn is in Buenos Ayres and in southern California, which give 

 promise of being very successful. The following, the latest statistics at 

 hand, apply to the year 1880-81. A hen will lay about ninety eggs in a 

 year ; and from these about sixty chicks will hatch, worth on the emer- 

 gence from the shell about twent} 7 -five dollars apiece ; and at six months 

 their value increases to about seventy-five to a hundred dollars a bird. 

 Since that time the value of the ostriches has greatly declined ; and a pair 

 of breeding birds in 1884 were worth on the average only about one 

 hundred dollars. 



On an ostrich-farm three or four broods are raised a year. The birds 

 are fed on grain and on the fleshy leaves of the prickly pear. In preparing 

 the latter the prickles are singed, and then the leaves are cut into pieces 

 an inch or two square. How long an ostrich lives is as yet an uncertain 

 quantity. Some place the average life at twenty-five, others at fifty years. 

 When the time for picking the feathers comes round, a bag or stocking is 

 drawn over the head of the bird; and the plumes are cut off about two 

 inches above the root of the quill ; and about three or four months later 

 the dried stumps are pulled out with a pair of pincers. In the wild state 

 the feathers are renewed but once a year ; but in confinement by means of 

 this cutting and plucking out the roots three pluckings in two years are 

 obtained. At first the feathers were pulled out; but this was found to be 

 very detrimental, as the next feathers were almost invariably distorted. 

 After picking, the feathers are assorted into different grades, according to 

 color and condition, and then bailed up ; they are sent to Port Elizabeth 

 or Cape Town, the former being the largest market for feathers. 



In the wild state, even in the breeding season, the ostrich but rarely 

 attacks man. But on every ostrich-farm there is usually at least one 

 vicious bird for whom the farmer must always keep on the watch. Says 

 Mr. Biggan, in a most interesting article on the ostrich: "When one 

 approaches a vicious bird's camp at the breeding season, the cock exalts 

 his head and body and, coming toward the stranger with stately and very 

 deliberate strides, begins to hiss loudly like a goose or serpent, at the same 

 time erecting all his feathers and spreading his wings till he becomes twice 

 his usual size. When perhaps twenty yards off he drops suddenly on 

 his knees, appearing, as it were, in a sitting posture. Curving his neck 



