NATURAL HISTORY. 



When a bird or a wild animal is killed, that is the end of it. If photographed, it may still live and 

 its educational and scientific value is multiplied indefinitely. 



OSTRICH EGGS. 



E. H. RYDALL. 



In California and Arizona ostrich eggs 

 are being laid by descendents of African 

 ostriches. These eggs weigh about 3^2 

 pounds each and contain 30 ounces of albu- 

 men ; they taste the same as eggs of the 

 familiar hen, and are sometimes served at 

 the tables of the palatial hotels of Southern 

 California. Few ostrich eggs are consumed, 

 however, for they are worth at the present 

 market price $70 a dozen ; they appear on 

 the bill of fare chiefly as an advertisement 

 of the local ostrich farm. Other eggs are 

 frequently placed on the office counters of 

 California hotels for the same purpose. 



Ostriches lay eg^gs every February and 

 August. They first dig a hole in the 

 ground some 12 inches deep and four in 

 diameter. Every other day during the 

 months named the hen deposits an egg 

 in this hole; when some 15 have been de- 

 posited she will lay a few more around 

 her pen and then sit down to batch the 

 group. After she has been engaged 2 weeks 

 in .this occupation, the ostrich farmer re- 

 moves the eggs one by one until nothing re- 

 mains in the nest except the dummy. 

 Sometimes a hen will lay a second clutch, 

 but in many cases she will not. The farm- 

 er hatches these eggs in an incubator ; not 

 because the hen would not hatch them^ but 

 because the farms have many visitors and a 

 nesting hen startled by the sudden appear- 

 ance of a stranger is liable to break an egg 

 in her excitement, which means an ultimate 

 loss to the institution of $150, the value of 

 a full grown ostrich. 



The ostrich is a faithful domestic crea- 

 ture. The hen will attend to her duties 

 carefully if not disturbed, while the male 

 guards the nest at night by sitting on the 

 eggs, leaving the wearied hen, who has 

 been doing duty all day, to rest from her 

 labors. The male ostrich is black, his 

 body thus protects the eggs at night and 

 makes them invisible to marauders ; the 

 female is grey, the color of the desert, so 

 that she also is invisible from a distance ; 

 thus, between the black and grey covering, 

 the white eggs are continually hidden from 

 the observation of the passing hunter. The 

 male ostrich becomes fierce at breeding 

 times and will attack anyone found in the 

 vicinity of its nest; at other times it will 

 join the hen in flight on the approach of 

 danger. The male emits a roar during the 

 night that resembles the roar of the African 

 lion and is often mistaken for it, even bv 



386 



the experienced lion hunter. The hen is 

 voiceless and timid. Of the 2 the hen is 

 the more affectionate. 



The ostrich industry of the United States 

 is controlled by the Hebrews. It is yet in 

 its infancy, and to obtain some idea of its 

 probable future one has to glance at the 

 history of the South African ostrich indus- 

 try. There some 400,000 domestic ostriches 

 are now supplying the world with ostrich 

 feather finery and yielding to the British 

 and Boer farmers an annual income of 

 $8,000,000.^ Fortunes have been made and 

 lost in this industry since its inception in 

 1865. , At present the ostrich farmers of 

 A.merica have 3 avenues of income, the ex- 

 hibiton of the birds to tourists, who pay to 

 see this strange African biped in all its va- 

 rious ages ; the sale of ostrich young to the 

 American ostrich trust, whose headquarters 

 are at Phoenix, Ariz. ; and the sale of os- 

 trich feathers to the feminine contingent of 

 the American public. Each ostrich will 

 yield about $40 worth of ostrich finery 

 every year. As an ostrich is believed to 

 reach the age of 60 years, there is a 

 profitable and steady income in view for 

 the ostrich farmer. The expense of keep- 

 ing ostriches is small, not greater than that 

 of keeping sheep. The cost of preparing os- 

 trich feathers for the use of the millinery 

 world is almost equal to the cost of the 

 crude material. Skilled artisans in the va- 

 rious lines of manufacture have to be em- 

 ployed; in this the French excel, and the 

 finest ostrich feather dressers in the world 

 are found in Paris. 



AN EXPERIENCE WITH A MOUNTAIN RAT. 



Gunnison, Colorado, 200 miles West of 

 Denver, is a picturesque town. It was 

 once considered a rival of Denver, being 

 surrounded by rich, ore-bearing moun- 

 tains. Its location on the Western slope 

 of the great Rockies was, however, a com- 

 mercial disadvantage and it soon fell be-, 

 hind in the raGe. While the beautiful re- 

 gion suffered consequently from a finan- 

 cial point of view, it still retains its charm 

 as a resort for pleasure seekers. Its hunt- 

 ng and fishing are not surpassed in all the 

 country. Deer abound in droves, and its 

 beautiful mountain streams swarm with 

 rainbow trout and other game fishes. 



Roger Freeman and I, with a deaf old 

 shepherd dog and a dangerous looking 

 muzzle loading shot gun, once went into 

 the hills near Gunnison for a day's hunt. 

 There were many coyotes and an occasion- 



