1.If you sleep in an attic bedroom,you do not expect to see a face at your window when you wake in the morning.But the little boy in the picture does not seem at all afraid of the strange face at his window.This great ostrich is an old friend,and is allowed to wander about the farm as it pleases.
2.An ostrich farm!Does it not seem strange to keep these great birds of the desert living in houses and fields,like sheep and cattle,instead of chasing them over the plains on horseback,or shooting them,as used to be done,in order to get their feathers ?Some wild ostriches are still hunted,especially in the north of Africa;but most of our ostrich feathers are now got from tame birds.
3.Ostrich farming was begun in South Africa about fifty years ago,and there are now many large farm son the plains of Cape Colony.An ostrich farm.must have a good fence round it,to keep the birds from straying.The old birds are rather fond of fighting,so each pair must have a field to themselves.
4.Tame ostriches are not usually allowed to hatch their young ones.The eggs are taken from the nest to a room,where they are placed in boxes,and kept warm by a stove or a lamp.The heat is applied to the top of the box,and this has the same effect on the eggs as if the birds were sitting on them to keep them warm.In about six weeks the young chicks come out of the shell.
5.The chicks find no mother there to attend to them,but instead of that there is a native boy.(Natives are generally called "boys,"however old they are.)It is very odd to see the young ostriches running to the boy when they are afraid,or when they want food,just as chickens run to their mother.The young birds require great care,and often large numbers of them die,causing much loss to the farmer.
6.For the first day or two the young birds eat nothing at all.Then they begin to swallow small stone sand gravel.This may seem very stupid;but they know what they are about.Besides having a stomach,the ostrich,like other birds,has a thick strong pouch called a gizzard,in which it grinds its food among the gravel and other hard things which it swallows.So the young ostrich gets its grinding-mill into proper working order before it begins eating.
7.At first they are fed with green vegetables cut into small pieces;but after a little while they are able to pick for themselves the grass and other plants on which they feed,and they are then taken away to a large pasture field,and need no more care.
8.The large white and gray feathers of the wing and tail are very much prized for ornament,they are so soft and graceful in form;the black feathers which cover the body of the bird are of no value.The crest of the Prince of Wales is three ostrich feathers placed as you see in the picture,with the German words,Ichdien,meaning,"I serve;"and the story is told that this crest was first worn by an English prince after the battle of Crecy .
9.The ostrich gets a new covering twice a year,and at these times the old feathers fall off.In order to keep them from getting faded or dirty,the farmer cuts them off carefully with a pair of scissors before they are quite ready to drop off,while they are still fresh and beautiful.