Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 March 1892 — OSTRICH HATCHING. [ARTICLE]

OSTRICH HATCHING.

The Ostrich Lays tho Egg, the Sun Does the Rest Theory Exploded. It is not true that the ostrich in its native state in Africa leaves its eggs to be hatched by the heat of the sun and the warm sands on which they lie. There is not a word of truth in such a generally believed statement. The ostrich egg from the time it is laid until incubation is complete requires daily attention. The idea that it is hatched in the sand by the heat of the sun is nonsense. That notion comes from the fact that the bird, being very timid, runs away on the approach of any creature it conceives to be a foe, and before going usually rakes the sand up around and over the nest to retain the heat which the eggs have received from its body, and the discovery, by unscientific men, of such deserted nests nearly hatched out has further strengthened the fallacy. But the fact is that. the ostrich egg requires turning daily during incubation, which lasts forty-two days; requires slight moisture, which it receives from contact with the bird’s body, and requires ventilation, which the bird provides for by standing over the nest and turning its body about to shade the eggs from the sun. It has also been found by those in charge of ostrich farms that a gradual decrease in the temperature of the eggs is also imperative. For the first two weeks it is 104 degrees Fahrenheit; for the third week, 102 degrees; fourth, 100 degrees; fifth, 98 degrees; sixth, 96’degrees. This is provided by nature in the steadily falling temperature of the bird’s body, due to the receipt of less nourishment than at other times, and in the incubator it must be looked after by careful attendants. Now, does anybody suppose that all these conditions can be met by simply heaping the eggs with sand? Yet the ostrich watches all these points. The male does most of the hatching—sitting on his nest sixteen hours out of the twenty-four—-and has been known to hold his post for twenty hours when the ben refused to come and relieve him. And when the hen leaves the nest before her turn comes to seek food, the male will at once take her place, although she does not show the same solicitude vyhen by any chance he deserts the eggs. And, stjrangely enough, though the ostrich often resents the Invasion of his corral by strangers at other times than during incubation, he will allow any one to approach the nest while he is on guard without taking the slightest offense. It is a curiosity to watch him assist the hatching-out process. As soon as he sees the beak or toe sticking through the shell he will take the egg up by the protruding bill or foot, lift it two or three feet, ani drop it on the ground until it breaks. He has been seen to release two chicks at once by dropping one egg upon the other in this way. The ostrich as a bird does not stand high in the scale of general intelligence. The ratio of the paroquet’s brain to his entire bulk is as 1 to 48, that of the eagle as 1 to 60, and that of the oStrich as 1 to 1,200. Yet it takes little observation of the male and female ostrich about their nest to see the strength of their propagative instinct, and to be astonished at their care of their eggs. How* such absurd stories as this one of hot-sand hatching can get into general circulation is one of the curiosities. Of human credulity. What s man cannot believe can never at bottom be of true interest to him.— Carlyle.