354 THE BEGINNER IN POULTRY 



ostriches alone, at least till he can creep, he will be 

 interested in the fact that ostrich farming is a part of 

 America's diversified bird culture. While perhaps not 

 within the limits of true poultry because not fully domes- 

 ticated, the ostriches certainly rank high as economic 

 birds, and America has been busy ostrich farming — in 

 spots — for about thirty years. Twenty-nine ostrich 

 farms are now reported in this country, carrying above 

 five thousand ostriches. The above ten million fowls 

 reported in the Pacific Division include one thousand 

 eighty-two ostriches on ten California farms. One farm 

 in Arkansas reports one hundred forty-seven ostriches. 

 American alfalfa helps make the hmits of ostrich 

 farming here ; they can be grown in any of our more 

 Southern states, where green feed is abundant the year 

 around, though certain localities are especially favorable. 

 A full-grown ostrich is half as heavy as a cow, and the 

 man who would pluck one literally has his hands full. 

 The young produce of 21 pairs, early in the history of 

 ostrich farming in America, was sold for ^30,000, all 

 within two years. The eggs are five inches in diameter 

 and seven inches long, and special incubators are built to 

 hold about 35 or 40 eggs. Between these huge sealed 

 shells of nutriment and the tiny quail eggs, the contrast 

 is so great that the mind can hardly take in the fact that 

 both are birds' eggs, and that both birds are amenable to 

 handling by man and to artificial rearing. The cave man 

 began domesticating animals, and his descendants are at 

 it yet. The group of five-months-old ostriches pictured 

 might be taken for the stagiest of skirt dancers, so bare 

 are their legs and so fluffy their petticoats, so light and 

 dainty their balance and so "low-necked" their attire. 



