Defects in Ostrich Feathers in South Africa

Abstract

THE domestication of the ostrich on a practical basis was undertaken in Cape Colony about 1867, and since then ostrich farming has become one of the most important industries in the eastern province. The census of 1904 gave 357,970¹ tame ostriches in the colony, while the export of feathers reached 470,381 pounds, practically the whole of which came from tame birds; the estimated value of the feathers was 1,058,988l., giving about 3l. 10s. per bird of feather-producing age. During the forty years of domestication the instincts of the ostrich have apparently undergone no change, though its habits are much altered. The feathers cut from the tame bird are shorter, weaker, and not so fluffy as those taken from wild birds, but probably these differences are to be correlated with the greater frequency of plucking, and not with any constitutional change resulting from domestication.