on Ostriches.



215



kept a black bag made like a long stocking which was pulled over

the bird’s head and neck, after the bird had been pushed into a

corner of the shed. The corner must be V-shaped, and they will

stand perfectly quiet whilst you cut all the full-grown feathers with

a strong pair of scissors from the wings and tail, leaving the stumps

2 in. long. The ends ripen in about three months’ time, and gradually

fall out, or the bird pulls them out; or if necessary you can pluck

them, always keeping the two kinds of feathers separate, as the

male birds have the finest. Both my adult birds would allow

me to mount their backs, and carry me. They can also be har¬

nessed to a cart as well as ridden bare back. They are very fond of

rolling and dusting themselves where they find sand and gravel

plentiful, and for that purpose I kept about twelve cartloads

in the field in a heap. We used the eggs in the house, and they

made a splendid omelette when fried, and taste very rich. The

egg equals in bulk thirty to thirty-three hens’ eggs. The flesh

of the ostrich, especially off the thighs, is dried and eaten as

biltong in South Africa. It is tough and coarse in fibre, and keeps

well in this country, as I had some sent me once from that region.

Adult birds, as a rule, seek safety in flight, but the chicks if suddenly

alarmed fall to the ground in a state of collapse like death feigning,

and adult birds have been known to do the same thing on the sudden

appearance of an enemy, squatting down with outstretched head

and neck, and in a state of collapse. The birds are then very

difficult to distinguish among the surrounding ant-hills. They have

a way when running of flapping and jerking their wings, which are

alternately raised and depressed. I have seen mine do this, evidently

in play, when chasing one another in the field. Ostriches as a rule

are fairly good livers, barring accidents, to which they are very prone,

being such inquisitive birds, about fourteen or fifteen years is their

term of life in my opinion. To show how easily a flock of twelve

or fifteen birds is managed, I well remember the late Mr. George

Sanger having a dozen birds with his travelling circus, and they

were carried in a large open-looking brake, when travelling from

town to town, and on the arrival of the circus at its pitch, the

ostriches were let out by coming down a special step-ladder made

for the purpose into the field to graze, and were driven by some


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