Ostrich Peculiarities 
The ostrich is a great sport. He is inordinately fond of 
“sparklers.” Probably this should not be surprising in a 
native of South Africa, where so many diamonds are found. 
He will eat the diamonds out of the front of a boiled shirt 
or out of a lady’s ears, if he can possibly make the “touch.” 
He is fond of snatching and swallowing lighted pipes, too, 
and nails, glass and pieces of jewelry of any size all taste 
good to him. Green hat veils he loves. 
For this reason, as well as for the fact that ostriches are 
dangerous when angered, all the birds on the farm are kept 
within stout wooden fences. 
The birds are raised both by the natural process and with 
huge incubators. In the breeding season the male hollows 
a nest from the sand, and being of a darker plumage than 
his mate, fits his shades to the night shadows and broods 
from sunset to dawn. The females take charge of the eggs 
during the day time. Eggs sometimes weigh as much as three 
pounds each. 
Ostriches live a contented married life and are very little 
troubled with “affinities.” They are very practical and un- 
sentimental about their domestic affairs, once the courtship 
is over. 
