The Ostrich, Struthio camelus, has been observed with interest from very early times; it has frequently been the subject of remark by African travellers; and it has been domesticated and farmed in the Cape Colony for some thirty years. Yet it is remarkable how little is known about it in scientific circles, and how many misconceptions still prevail as to its nature and habits.[1]
- ↑ This article is founded on personal observations made during nine years of uninterrupted Ostrich-farming in the Karroo of the Cape Colony, and during travels about the country generally. The number of Ostriches which were under my care during this period ranged from about 250 to 450. Some of the birds were the progeny of wild birds, brought down as chicks from further up-country. Every year eight special breeding pairs were camped off, each pair in a separate small camp; but the other birds ran in large camps, the extent of the farm being 4600 morgen (about two acres to the morgen). In these large camps, some of which are a couple of miles in diameter, numbers of birds of both sexes run in what is practically a wild state, seldom interfered with in any way, except when rounded up to be plucked or to be fed in a drought. I know, from personal observation when purchasing wild chicks from the nest, and from numerous inquiries, that the habits of birds thus farmed differ in no way from those of native wild birds, except perhaps that monogamy is more difficult. The whole of the Cape Colony is the native habitat of the Ostrich; there are feral Ostriches in many parts, and wild birds in some of the up-country districts.
Zool. 4th ser. vol. I., March, 1897.
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