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| THE OSTRICHES - On the northern side of Midway Plaisance, far beyond the Ferris
Wheel, beyond Old Vienna, and in that
region which appeared to hurry outgoing visitors toward the exits,
was the inclosure in which a learned lecturer, standing among a
company of twenty-three full-grown Californian ostriches, expatiated
on the habits of his great birds with undiminishing success. His
solemn statements concerning the high development of female rights in
ostrich communities were a never-ending source of satisfaction to the
ladies and a matter of profound astonishment to all husbands. The
self-forgetfulness of Ostrich, the pater familias, in building the
nest, obtaining food, setting on the eggs a stretch of sixteen hours,
while the mother sets but eight, and other subjugations of the male
were recounted with a fidelity which was deemed to be dangerously
near to treachery by all prudent men. The trot of the ostrich is
perhaps the most ridiculous motion made by any living creature, for
it is accompanied by a seemingly dainty attempt to be graceful, and
the visitors were always eager to see the flock go from one end of
the grounds to the other showing their plumes. Many of the birds
were named after famous men - Jim Blaine, General Grant, Old Abe,
Grover Cleveland - and one, seen at the left, had his neck mended in
a way that left it crooked laterally. It cost but ten cents to see
these wonderful birds, and learn their history. |
