Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo17amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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Some of the barbs of the natal down feathers are continued beyond the rest of the featlier. and this gives the bristly appearance to the plumage of the young chick Ostrich Farming in South Africa SUCCESSFUL RESULTS SUGGESTING THE POSSIBILITY OF SAVING OTHER WILD BIRDS THROUGH DOMESTICATION By J. E. D UE R D EN Professor of Zoology, Rhodes University College, Grahanistown, South Africa' IN" times past the two-toed ostrich (Striithio) ranged over all the habitable parts of the continent of Africa, and extended into Arabia, Palestine, Asia Minor, and probably as far as southern India. Any specific distinction within the genus is ques- tionable. In recent times it has become ))ractically restricted to Africa, a hardy "left over" from a more ancient fauna, in wliich brain power counted but little. Its graceful plumes have been employed for decorative purposes from time im- memorial, and frequent references to the giant bird occur in Biblical and classical writings. The plumes were obtained from the hunting of the wild bird, and so valuable are they that the creature would have become extinct ere this had not its domestication been un- dertaken. As it is, ostriches in South Africa have rapidly increased under farming conditions, until in 1913 they were estimated at near 1,000,000, a noteworthy instance of an animal saved from extinction and increasing greatly in numbers through man's agency. For generations the Arabs and na- tives of North Africa have kept the ostrich in captivity in small kraals, and ruthlessly plucked its feathers. These birds are captured as chicks from the nest of the wild bird, restraint and handling of the wild adult being im- possible. Chicks are never bred in cap- tivit)^ and the terra "ostrich farming" can scarcely be applied to the crude conditions under which the bird there exists. Fifty years ago serious atten- tion was first directed to the possibil- ities of ostrich farming in South Africa. Under suitable management the bird proved itself amenable to the restraints of farm life and bred f reel v. and in a ' Dr. Duerden holds also the position of Officer-in-Charge, Ostrich Investigations, Grootfontein School of Agriculture. Middelburg. South Africa. 3C7

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