ANATOMY OF BIRDS
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS
CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS
LIZARD-TAILED BIRD
AMERICAN TOOTHED-BIRDS
THE OSTRICHES
THE RHEAS
EMEUS AND CASSOWARIES
THE TINAMOUS
THE KIWIS
THE PENGUINS
LOONS AND GREBES
ALBATROSSES & PETRELS
STORK-LIKE BIRDS
GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS
FALCON-LIKE BIRDS
FOWL-LIKE BIRDS
CRANE-LIKE BIRDS
PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE OSTRICHES
Ostrich Habits
It is of course well known that the Ostrich is mainly an inhabitant of the desert, preferring the dry, sandy wastes, but not altogether shunning the valleys and plains that are studded with scattered low bushes, its commanding stature and long neck permitting it uninterrupted vision in all directions.
It is an extremely wary bird, distrustful of all suspicious objects and especially of the presence of man, though it may often be seen in close proximity to herds of zebras, quaggas, giraffes, antelopes, and other quadrupeds. It is a very nervous, restless bird, continually on the move, especially during the daytime, and fleeing at the slightest approach of danger, its proverbial foolishness in hiding its head in the sand and thereby supposing that it was effectually concealed being now relegated to the limbo of myths along with dozens of others that have been illumined by the cold facts of science and truth.
The Ostrich is gregarious, going about in small parties of from three or four up to a dozen or twenty, and exceptionally as many as fifty have been noted in company. During the breeding season the male is polygamous, consorting with some three, four, or five females which are acquired by blandishment or by fierce battles with rivals.
The nest is very simple, being merely a slight hollow scratched in the sand, and all the females of a party lay in the same nest. There appears to be some uncertainty as to the usual number of eggs laid, but as many as thirty have not infrequently been recorded, and ordinarily there are a number scattered about the vicinity of the nest which are not incubated, but are said to be used as food for the young chicks.
The male performs almost the entire duty of incubation, being occasionally relieved by the females for short periods during the day, and occasionally when the sun is very hot the eggs are simply covered with warm sand, though this latter is perhaps as much for the purpose of keeping marauders away as for its wrarmth. The eggs hatch in some six or seven weeks, the chicks running about freely at birth and accompanying their parents, who are very solicitous for their safety, the male often trying to draw away pursuers by counterfeiting lameness or wounds.
Thus Mr. Andersson describes graphically a family party that he once saw near Lake Ngami, which consisted of a male, female, and about twenty chicks the size of common barn-yard fowls. Finding it impossible to escape, the male”at once slackened his pace and diverged somewhat from his course; he again increased his speed, and with wings drooping so as to almost touch the ground, he hovered round us, now in wide circles and then decreasing the circumference till he came almost within pistol-shot, when he abruptly threw himself on the ground and struggled desperately to regain his legs, like a bird that had been badly wounded; having previously fired at him, I really thought he was disabled, and made quickly towards him; but this was only a ruse on his part, for on my nearer approach he slowly rose and began to run in an opposite direction from that of the female, who, by this time was considerably ahead with her charge.”The young Ostriches are said to be remarkably silent, but the old birds and especially the males have a hoarse, mournful cry, which is likened by some to the roar of the lion, and by others to the lowing of an ox.
The omnivorous diet of the Ostrich is proverbial, though in a state of nature they are perhaps not more diversified in their choice of food than many other birds. They feed on herbage, seeds, fruits, berries, etc., varied with occasional insects, small mammals, birds, lizards, and snakes, but in captivity they will eat almost anything that can be swallowed, not infrequently taking substances that may cause their death.
While they are capable of existing for long periods without water, they drink regularly whenever opportunity offers, and by some observers they are said to be fond of bathing, especially in very hot weather, when they may wade into a lake or even into the sea until only the head protrudes. They are very fond of salt, a certain amount of which seems to be essential to them.
The fleetness of the Ostrich is also proverbial, it being perhaps the most rapid terrestrial animal in the world. A single stride is said to approximate twenty-five feet or more, and it often attains when it first sets out a speed of sixty miles an hour, and can thus easily outrun the swiftest of its four-footed companions; indeed nothing would be able to overtake it were it not for its silly habit of running in a circle. The latter peculiarity is often taken advantage of to effect their capture, the hunter on a swift horse simply riding the arc of the circle and thus approaching them. Other methods of capture consist of following them with fresh relays of horses or camels until they fall exhausted, in drawing a continually narrowing cordon about them, or in urging them into skilfully concealed pitfalls, while the Bushmen,”concealed in the sand or disguised in skins, shoot them with poisoned arrows."
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