"They swallow large stones too, as smaller birds swallow sand to help grind up the food in the gizzard, and, indeed, ostriches have been known to swallow bits of iron, shoes, copper coins, glass, bricks, and other things such as you would think no living creature would want to eat." "They look very big and strong, papa," remarked the little boy, gazing at them with great interest.
"Yes; they are so strong that one can easily carry two men on his back." "Is that what they are good for, papa ?" "That is one thing; and their feathers are very valuable.

For that reason ostrich farms have been established for the raising of the birds, and have proved very profitable." "Don't folks eat ostriches, papa ?" asked Elsie.
"Sometimes a young one; and their eggs are eaten too.

They are so large that each one is about equal to two dozen ordinary hen's eggs; to cook one they usually set it up on end over a fire, and having first broken a hole in the top, they stir it with a forked stick while it is cooking.

The shells are very thick and strong and the Africans use them for water vessels." "Do they have nests to lay their eggs in, like our chickens ?" asked Ned.
"They do not take the pains in building a nest that most other birds do," replied his father, "but merely scoop a hole in the sand.

One male usually appropriates to himself from two to seven females and each hen lays ten eggs--so it is supposed--all in the same nest, and each egg is stood up on end." "It must take a big, big nest to hold them; such great big eggs as you say they are, papa!" "Yes, and generally there are some to be found lying on the sand outside of the nest; perhaps laid there by hens who came to lay in it but found another in possession; one who had got there before them." "I have often heard or read that the ostrich leaves her eggs lying in the sand to be hatched by the heat of the sun," remarked Evelyn.
"Perhaps she does in those very hot countries," said the exhibitor, "but not in California; though, as I've been telling you, she makes the male bird do the most of the setting." "Maybe that's because the eggs are all his, but don't all belong to any of the females," laughed Walter.
"Perhaps that is it, sir," returned the man.
"Can they run very fast ?" asked Neddie.