Ostrich plume

“ Many other people like to wear ostrich plumes as well as Matty. So there is a large trade in them. The wild ostrich does not supply feathers enough for the market, so ostriches are now raised like turkeys and hens. This business is called “ostrich farming.” The ostriches are kept in large yards, and the plumes are taken out every year.
Aunt Sarah told all this to Matty. “And so,” said Matty, stroking the long white plume, “this feather has ridden on the back of an ostrich in Africa; I wish it could tell me what it has seen.”
SOMEBODY ELSE WHO LIKES EGGS.
WHO KILLED THE GOOSE? ”

“ You know so many people want ostrich plumes that it takes a great many to supply them all, and there are ostrich farms in Florida and California, as well as in Mexico and other countries. The first plumes are cut from the birds when they are about six or seven months old, and then about twice a year until they are very old. ”

“ It is this looseness of the cross-barbs which gives ostrich-plumes their light and fluffy appearance; while, pushed to an extreme in the cassowary and the kiwi, it makes the plumage of those ugly birds approximate in character to the hair of mammals. Though from the human and decorative point of view we may admire the fluffiness of ostrich-plumes, it is obvious that, looked upon as a question of relative development, such loose, floating barbs are far less advanced in type than the firm and tightly interlocked quill-feathers of a goose or a raven, with which alone sustained flight is possible. ”

“ On a California Ostrich Farm
The long, white, beautiful ostrich plumes so highly prized by ladies all over the world grow [216] in the ends of the wings of the male birds. A good bird, in the prime of its life, will yield from twenty to forty of these, and also a few black feathers from the wings. The tail feathers are of much less beauty and value. ”

“ The Ostrich industry is good and it is worthy of encouragement. No woman need fear that she is aiding in any way the destruction of birds by wearing Ostrich plumes. There are many more of the birds {166} in the world to-day than there were when their domestication first began, and probably no wild African or Asiatic Ostriches are now shot or trapped for their plumes. The product seen in our stores all comes from strong, happy birds hatched and reared in captivity. Use of their feathers does not entail the sacrifice of life, nor does it cause the slightest suffering to the Ostrich ”

“ I have laid too many eggs in the hot sands of this wilderness, the world, with ostrich carelessness and ostrich oblivion. The greater part indeed have been trod under foot, and are forgotten; but yet no small number have crept forth into life, some to furnish feathers for the caps of others, and still more to plume the shafts in the quivers of my enemies, of them that unprovoked have lain in wait against my soul. ”

“ It is, however, those magnificent white plumes in the tail and wings which assist it to run at the rapid rate I have described. Both male and female possess these white plumes. The body of the male differs from that of the female. It is of a deep glossy black, among which a few whitish feathers are mingled, but only visible when the plumage is ruffled.
While we were still talking about the ostrich, Leo started up, exclaiming, “See! see! there is one just outside the camp. Run for your gun, Andrew. You may get a shot at it.” ”

“ And the ostrich is not the fool it is thought to be—burying its head in the sand! Knowing how the long stem of a neck will catch the eye, it lays it flat on the ground, as other birds do, when danger threatens the nest or brood, and concealment is better than flight. ”

“ The ostrich, like many other of the feathered tribe, has a great deal of self-conceit. On fine sunny days a tame bird may be seen strutting backward and forward with great majesty, fanning itself with its quivering, expanded wings, and at every turn seeming to admire its grace, and the elegance of its shadow. ”

“ One extra-refractory bird, when finally subdued, and helpless in the hands of the pluckers, avenges his wrongs upon the ostrich standing nearest to him in the crowd; and, for every feather pulled from his own tail, gives a savage nip to the head of his unoffending neighbour, a mild bird, who does not retaliate, but looks puzzled, his own turn not yet having come. It is amusing to watch the rapid retreat of each poor denuded creature when set free from his tormentors. ”

“ Before the rainy season, however, it is not necessary to capture the ostrich through a protracted chase. When the heat is most intense, the bird is often found lying upon the sand with outstretched wings and open beak, suffering from the hot, sultry air, and burning sun. ”

“ The male ostriches will, on some occasions, give chase to the strange bird, when he tries to elude them in a way to prevent them catching his scent; for when once they do, the spell is broken. Should one happen to get too near in pursuit, he has only to run to windward or throw off his saddle to avoid a stroke from a wing which would lay him prostrate."
But the ostrich has other enemies besides man. Beasts as well as birds are said to seek and devour their eggs with great avidity. ”

“ In the foreground a forest of long necks, and a crowd of foolish, frightened faces, gaping beaks, and throats all puffed out with air—the latter ludicrous grimace, accompanied sometimes by a short, hollow sound, half grunt, half cough, being the ostrich's mode of expressing deepest disgust and dejection. ”

“ For sad it makes my heart, and sore,
To think I ne’er may meet her more.
[Pg 112]
The Ostrich. Every one who looks at an ostrich can see that, having very long legs, he can run pretty fast if he tries. The ostrich is, in fact, swifter of foot than any other animal. He will outstrip the fleetest dog, or horse, or even the antelope.
Not only is he the fleetest of running animals, but he is the largest of birds; but though he is a bird, he cannot fly. In running, he only lifts his wings a little, flapping them slightly, but deriving no aid from them in his progress. ”

“ The bare idea of there being anything pathetic about an ostrich seems absurd—and indeed this is the only instance I have known of anything of the kind—but it was truly pitiful to watch this poor bird, as, day after day, and nearly all day long, he wandered up and down, up and down, the length of his camp, in the hard, beaten track worn by his restless feet along the side of the fence. ”

“ It is probable that the man on the bird would have soon got away from his pursuers, had not the ostrich persisted in running around in a great circle, while, with whoops and shouts, the giant and the rest succeeded in heading off the ostrich, which tumbled over, throwing his rider on the sand. ”

“ It is generally agreed, however, that several ostriches lay in one nest, and that one undertakes to hatch them, but often covers them up in the sand and leaves them during the day, knowing that the heat of the sun will carry on the process of hatching as well without her as with her. I need only add that the ostrich is about as tall as the Belgian giant, it being between seven and eight feet high!
What do we mean by Nature? By Nature, we mean the laws by which God works. ”

“ Upon the body the feathers do not grow closely as they do upon other birds. The wind can thus blow through the feathers, cooling the body, while the covering is sufficient to protect the bird, like a shade, from the heat of the sun.
The ostrich has a keen sense of sight and hearing, and, as it is a swift runner, it is very hard to catch. It cannot fly, but it can use its wings like sails in running, and has been known to run at the rate of thirty miles an hour.
Its food is chiefly fruits, grain, leaves, tender twigs and shoots of plants, snails, and various kinds of insects. ”

“ Thus, during a morning's walk through the camps, you may be escorted in succession by four or five vicious birds, all determined to have your life if possible, yet held completely in check by a few mimosa thorns.
When an ostrich challenges he sits down; and, flapping each broad wing alternately, inflates his neck, and throws his head back, rolling it from side to side, and with each roll striking the back of his head against his bony body with so sharp and resounding a blow that a severe headache seems likely to be the result. ”

“ The habit which ostriches have of sticking their heads into the sand, leaving the body exposed to danger, has often been mentioned in books and used as an illustration of what a fool will do. But when one comes to study the ostrich in its home on the desert the habit [Pg 203] does not seem at all foolish. Indeed, it is a wise provision of nature for the safety of the bird in a region where hiding places are scarce. When a brood of young ostriches is warned by their guardian they instantly fade out of sight. ”

“ But the ostrich can run! It is estimated that one of these giant birds at full speed, travels at the rate of thirty miles an hour, which is as fast as most locomotives go! But then the bird gets tired after awhile, and the locomotive does not. The ostrich, however, can travel a very long distance before it gives out from fatigue.
It is a magnificent-looking bird when it is traveling over its native sands at full speed, with its head proudly erect; its bright eyes gleaming, its wings outspread, and its feet twinkling over the sand so fast you can scarcely see them. ”

“ They are housed at night in circular kraals, surrounded by a low rush fence, the ostrich, despite his fleetness and strength of legs, being unable to mount or jump over any obstacle, and turned out during the day into the veldt in charge of a herd.
An ostrich can give a mighty kick, sufficient to break a man’s leg, but you may easily choke him by throwing your arms around his neck. The bird can then do nothing, for he has no strength in his wings to beat his enemy off, and is only able to use his formidable legs, like a horse, backward. ”

“ In the first place, it is by far the largest of all living birds, for a full-grown male ostrich is taller than a very tall man. Then its head is somewhat like that of a camel, and its neck like that of a giraffe—very long and slender, with scarcely any feathers on it. Next, its wings are so small that they cannot be used for flight. All that an ostrich does with its wings, indeed, is to spread them out when it is running, so that they may help it in keeping its balance. And, finally, its legs are as stout and as strong as those of a horse, while it has only two toes on each foot. ”

“ The sight of nests thus apparently deserted has probably given rise to the erroneous idea that the ostrich leaves her eggs to hatch in the sun. The passage in the book of Job: "Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in the dust," is also generally supposed to point to the same conclusion, though in reality there can be no doubt that the latter part of the sentence simply applies to the warming of the eggs by the heat of the bird's body as she sits over them in her dusty nest. Stupid though she is, she has more sense than to believe in the possibility of the sun hatching her eggs ”

“ The skin they fix on one of their sides, and carry the head and neck in one of their hands, while the other holds the bow and arrows. In this disguise—of course with the feathered side of him presented to the bird or beast he would get near to—he walks along, pecking with the head at the bushes, and imitating the motions of the ostrich. By this stratagem he very often is enabled to get within shot of the other ostriches, or the quaggas and gnoos which consort with these birds. ”

“ An ostrich, who was closely pursued by a hunter, suddenly thrust his head deep down into the sand.
"Ah! ah!" exulted the hunter, "I have the silly thing at last." He advanced to place a rope around the bird's legs; but the ostrich, who had accurately timed his arrival, landed a kick in the pit of his stomach that sent him into the hereafter like a bullet through a fog-bank.
IMMORAL:
"Umph," said the ostrich as he surveyed his victim, "because a man looks sad at the opening of a jack-pot, it doesn't necessarily follow that he's only got ace-high." ”

“ As, in the atmosphere which now surrounds the earth, a creature of such size and weight cannot fly at all, the wings of the ostrich have become atrophied, and the muscles of the wings, which form the plump, meaty breasts of flying birds, are entirely wanting. Not only have these muscles disappeared, but the breastbone, which in flying birds is very large in proportion to the rest of the skeleton, and has a deep, longitudinal keel in the middle, is comparatively small in the ostrich and has no keel at all. The ostrich, having no power of flight, is dependent for safety upon its speed in running ”

“ Some travelers affirm that the ostrich not only never sits on her eggs after having once been handled, or even if a man should have passed near the nest, but that she actually destroys them! I, for my part, can not speak to this point, having, whenever I found an ostrich's nest, usually plundered it at once, thus leaving the bird no opportunity of obeying so strange an instinct. ”

“ And the ostrich answered, "Yes, I will." At dawn they flew away, first up towards the sun, higher and higher, the ostrich far before the others. It flew on in its pride up towards the light; it relied upon its own strength, not upon the Giver of that strength; it did not say, "God willing." Then the avenging angel drew aside the veil from the streaming flames, and in that moment the bird's wings were burnt, and he sank in wretchedness to the earth. Neither he nor his species were ever afterwards able to raise themselves up in the air. They fly timidly—hurry along in a narrow space ”