Today is World Ostrich Day. We should celebrate the world’s largest bird. Ostriches are big. They can grow to 9 feet tall, and weigh up to 250 to 300 pounds. I have several books on ostriches.
The first is “Home Life on an Ostrich Farm” by Annie Martin, 1894. It is the story of a lady and her husband, returning to Africa to resume their ostrich farm, back in 1881. It is quite an adventure. The author states that ostriches are very easily startled, and can frantically and clumsily run away when scared., sometimes for miles. There are a lot of those mini-adventures, the day in and out happenings that are part of their life. This is a great reading of another time and place-her writings take you there.
“Among the Ostrich Hunters, wanderings in the Wilds of Patagonia” by Julius Beerbohm, 1891(?), is about the life and adventures he experienced going across the country in South America. He survived several ordeals, and brings the events vividly to you. The ostriches he found there, are a smaller type, aptly called the South American ostrich.
“Hutchinson’s Animals of all Countries vol. II”, 1924. This is a massive four volume set, full of pictures, some colored, of all sorts of animals, along with descriptions and stories. It is quite a set of books to just browse through on a cold evening. Totaling the volumes, there are 2344 pages, with 26 page index. ’2000 illustrations, 50 in color, describing ‘beasts, birds, fishes, reptiles, insects’.
Where do ostriches go for entertainment? The Emu’s-ment park. You can’t help smile when you think of ostriches. Reading any of these three books should make you happy. Make sure you let me know on social media if they do…use emu-jies.
Librarytomes 