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Some Observations on the Struthious Birds

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Some Observations on the Struthious Birds Vol.t023 XL] J SHEA]•,Struthious Birds. 633 Feb. 15, 1877. My. correspondentsare Dr. P. L. Hatch, Minneapolis, Mr. H. B. Bailey, Newton, Mass., William Brewster, Cambridge, Mass., Dr. J. C. Merrill, Fort Brown,Texas, who welcomes me to hissection, and last but not least Dr. Elliott C0uesof the Smithsonian. Receiveda letter through Mr. Bailey from Mr. J. A. Allen of Cambridge. Sent Dr: Couesa fine Pelican and he'was pleasedwith it and gave it to the Smithsonian,also sent him a juv. rabbit which he decidesto be the young of northern Jack. He sent it to Prof. Alien who is making a study of Rabbits. Feb. 19, 1877. Receiveda letterfrom SpencerF. Bairdof SmithsonianInst. thanking Dr. C0uesand me for the Pelican skin I sent the latter, and sayinghe had sent me a check list of birds. Feb. 21, 1877. Havebeen ready and waiting for two days for Mr. Webster,expect him every train. Was today studying Audubon about the Mammals and' Birds of Texas and have hopes of getting great quantities of valuable skins. - Every thing arranged at home, debts and accountsall setfled up and every thing put away in goodshape. ß112 VF. Adams St., Chicago/Ill. SOMEOBSERVATIONS ON THE STRUTHIOUSBIRDS. BY W. HENRY SHEAK. For sevenmonths in 1918, from the first of April to the end of October, I had charge of the Ostrich houseat the Philadelphia Zo51ogicalGarden. This paper is based almost exclusivelyon notes made at that time. When I took charge there were in the house three specimens of the South A•rican Ostrich (Struthioaustralis), two malesand one female; two Somali Ostriches (S. molybdophanes),a male and a female;two Rheas (Rheaamericana), both males;one male AustralianCassuary (Casuarius australis); two Papuan Cassuaries (C..papuanus),a male and a female; and two Emus (Dromceus novce-hollandice),both males. During the seven months I was there I had no death and not a caseof serioussickness among the ratitc birds. Toward the end of the summer, however, we received from an Ostrichfarm in Californiathree specimenso• the SomaliOstrich, 634 Si,.d. Auk a male and two females. Thesewere young birds, but almost,if not altogether, fully grown. The birds were delayed in their long trip acrossthe contlnen%shamefully neglected in the matter of food and water, and when they reachedthe Garden were in a dying condition. The male was so weak he could not hold up his head. Of all pitiable sights,an Ostrich with the strength all goneout of his neck, this long memberas llmp and resistlessas a carpetrag, permitting the headto fall and lle helplesson the ground,is the most pitiable. The male was too far goneto take any nourishmentand died within three hours after h;s arrival. The two femalesafter beingliberated from the shippingcrate and stretchingtheir crampedmuscles for a quarter of an hour, began peckingat the mashof crackedcorn and branwhich I had prepared for them. Before night they were eating ravenously. The Ostrichfarm shippedus a secondmale which arrived about a month later. He reached us in a condition similar to the first. SuperintendentRobert Carson, Assistant SuperintendentC. Emerson Brown, Head-keeper Manly, and the writer spent a Septembermorning trying to induce the new arrival to eat, and with little success. Not one of us had much hope of savinghim. But after a few hourshe did take a little food, in a day or two was eating readily, and by the end of Octoberhe and the two females received earlier were in good condition and well on the way to complete recovery. Thesenew birds were not placedin the OstrichHouse, but in a new paddockprepared especially for them south of the new' Bird House. The paddock was provided with a shelter house, but with no artificial heat. Here these birds remained all winter and thrived. Oneof the femalesdied subsequently, but whenI last visitedthe Garden,late in July of the presentyear, the otherfemale and the male were still living and in the best of health. This specieshas been found most satisfactoryon the Ostrich farms of America,and is kept almostto the total exclusionof S. camelus and S. australis. The Ostrich houseis providedwith a boiler for steam heat, but it is only in extremeweather that it is used. The winter of 1917-18 in the region of Philadelphiawas a record-breakerfor frequent and heavy snowsand low temperatures,but every day Vol. the struthiousbirds were given the freedomof the outdoor pad- docks,for at leastthe warmerpart of the day, exceptingon a few occasionswhen the groundwas a glareof ice and there wasdanger of the birds falling and breaking their legs. This applied to Ostriches,Rheas, Emus, and Cassowariesalike. One of my most striking and interestingobservations on the ratire birds was that they all love rain. On the occasionof a shower,every bird, instead of seekingthe shelter of the house, would dash out the door and dance about in the rain. The harder the downpourthe more they seemedto enjoy it. After the first transport of pleasure,they would settle down to the regular businessof pickingedible tidbits or pebblesfrom the groundof the paddocks. I neverknew them to gounder a roof to get out of the wet. This wouldnot havebeen surprising in the Cassowaries, as they affectdeep woods where rains are frequent and heavy, but it was certainly unexpectedin the African Ostricheswhich live on desertsand plains where rain is practicallyunknown. Another surprisingfact about these great birds is the small amount of food upon which they can not only subsist,but thrive. The principal caution Head-keeperManly gave me when I went to the OstrichHouse, was this: "If you seethe needfor it, decrease the feed, but neverincrease it." The bill of fare for the Ostriches the year around,was two quarts of alfalfa, one quart of cracked corn,and one quart of bran to each bird in the morningas soon as the cageswere cleaned,and again in the eveningjust before closingtime. In additionto this, I fed eachbird in the evening one quart of choppedcarrots, beets, and bread,equal parts. To the Emus, Cassowariesand Rheas I fed, morningand evening alike, to each bird, oneslice of bread, three medium-sizedbananas, one-halfpint of boiled sweetpotatoes, one apple, a little boiled rice rolled in corn meal, and a little lettuce. When we consider the great size and bulk of body of these birds, this is certainly a smallration. But this is not all. When- ever my birdsbegan to showany decidedsigns of being "off their feed," by leavinga part of their ration in the feed boxes,I would eliminate the eveningmeal altogetheruntil they would clean up what I gave them in the morning. 636 s•, StruthiousBirds. [•cU•' Aswas to be expected,these great birds have their ownindividu~ alities• their own idiosyncrasies,their own likes and dislikes,' very much as human beings. For instance,.I had one Emu that wouldnot eat bananas(and I couldnot gethim hungryenough .to eat them), althoughmy other Emu, the three Cassowaries,and the two Rheaswere fond of them. Someof the birds were very dainty about their eating and rarely ate all I gave them, while I ' had onebig SouthAfrican Ostrich which not only ate all I gave him, but usually ate what the other Ostrichesleft in their feed" boxes. Althoughred beetswere on the bill of fare for the Ostriches, they caredlittle for them,and alwaysate everythingelse in pre-. ference to the beets. In eachcage was kept an earthenvessel filled with groundbone, crushedshell, and grit, and eachstruthious bird receiveda little fresh choppedbone and meat every rV•ondayand Thursday. I was surprisedto find the Cassowaries,especially the Papuans, pickingup the pebbleswhen the cagefloor was fresh sandedeach morning,and swallowingthem. This was hardly to be expected in a bird not a seedeater, but supposedto subsistexclusively on fruit, vegetables,grass, and ihe like. The Emusand Rheasalso gatheredpebbles. Onemorning I waswalking through the servicepassage back of the cages,when I sawa mousethat had beencaught between a bar and the feedbox in the cageof the femalePapuan Cassowary. Thinking that possiblythe mousehad gotten poisonor died of somedisease, I stoppedto get him out of the cage. But the bird discoveredhim at the same time I did, and before I could reach the rodent, sheseized him in her bill, shookhim as a terrier shakes a mouseor rat, evidentlyto make surehe was dead,then gavehim a toss and swallowed him. A little later I tried the Cassowaries with dead mice which I had caught in a trap, and the Australian as well as the Papuan ate them readily. I then put a mouseinto the west Emu cage,but it lay there for sometime. Then I put it into the feedbox of the Emu in the big centercage. When let in from the paddock,he picked the feed from under it, seemingnot to carefor the rodent. I did not feed the bird that night and do not know if he ate the mouseor not, but the nextSmorning it was not in thefeed box. ¾ol.1923XL'l J Snrax,Struthtous B6ds. 637 ! told Mr. Hess,for morethan thirty yearskeeper of the Reptile House,about my experiencewith the Cassowariesand the mice, and he said,"Oh yes,they are very fondof them." lie told me, too, that before the Ostrichhouse was built, severalCassowaries were kept in the Antelopehouse and Elephant house. They were "off their feed" and got poor. GeorgeHarrison, one of the old keepers,cut up raw boneand the marrow and gave it to them, They ate of it ravenously. Their health pickedup and they got fat. The femalesbegan laying and laid a largenumber of eggs. Harrisonalso chopped up oystershells, thrown out from restaurantsand hotels,containing a little meat, and fed to them. lie would also burn charcoal for them. From these facts it would seem that the Cassowaries are not in their native state so ex- clusivelyvegetarian in diet as is commonlybelieved.
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