Ostrich Farming 65 



pitfalls, while the Bushmen, "concealed in the sand or disguised in skins, shoot 

 them with poisoned arrows." 



Ostrich Farming. As a matter of fact, probably few if any wild Ostriches 

 are now killed for their feathers since it has been discovered that they can be 

 domesticated and a superior quality of plumes produced. The first attempts 

 at domesticating the Ostrich were made in South Africa about 1864, but these were 

 not entirely successful until several years later, or about 1867. Within less than 

 twenty years the industry had grown to such proportions that $40,000,000 of 

 capital was employed, and the annual income exceeded $5,000,000. In 1891 

 a rather careful census showed the presence in South Africa of 154,880 tame birds, 

 which number had risen in 1904 to 357,970. In the early days large fortunes 

 were made in the industry when feathers were worth $500 per pound and the 

 plumes of a single bird sometimes brought $100, though the present average 

 annual income in Africa is only about $18 per bird. Ostrich farming was first 

 inaugurated in the United States in 1882, when twenty-two birds were success- 

 fully imported from Cape Town to New York and shipped overland to Cali- 

 fornia. During the next four years other parties ventured in the field of Ostrich 

 farming, and from an importation of forty-four birds, made about 1890, fully 

 eighty per cent of the approximately three thousand Ostriches in America have 

 descended, the last importation that of twelve Nubians having been made 

 in 1901. TJie industry is now successfully prosecuted in California, Arizona, 

 Arkansas, North Carolina, and Florida, with the prospect of its enormous ex- 

 tension in the near future. The following account of the industry is taken from 

 Butcher: "A breeding pair of Ostriches will produce from ten to twenty chicks 

 a year, which are worth, when six months old, $100 each; at one year, $150; 

 at two years, $200; at three years, $300 to $350. They commence to breed 

 when four years old, when, if prolific, they are valued at from $700 to $1000 per 

 pair. Exceptionally fine birds sometimes bring as much as $1000 each. Good 

 birds will produce from $35 to $50 worth of feathers each year, and exceptional 

 ones from $75 to $90 annually. Plucking is done by putting the Ostrich in a 

 V-shaped corral just large enough to admit its body, with room for the work- 

 men. A hood, shaped like a stocking, is placed over the head of the Ostrich, 

 when it becomes perfectly docile. The workman then raises the wings and 

 clips the feathers that are fully ripe. Great care is exercised at this time, as a 

 premature cutting of the feathers deteriorates the succeeding feather growth. 

 There is no possibility of inflicting pain in plucking an Ostrich; not a drop of 

 blood is drawn, nor a nerve touched. The large feathers are cut off, and in 

 two months' time, when the quill is dried up, it is pulled out. By taking the feath- 

 ers in this way it causes the bird absolutely no pain at all. An Ostrich is first 

 plucked when it is nine months old, the third plucking being the full crop, which 

 will weigh about one pound. Ostriches mate at four years of age and remain 

 paired for life. The nest, which is simply a hole in the ground scooped out by 

 the breast-bone of the bird, is about one foot deep by three and four feet in 

 diameter. Eggs are laid every other day until about twelve or fourteen are 

 deposited, each of which weighs from three to four pounds. The eggs are 



