Jane Pharris, age 11, of Grahville,

Does an ostrich really hide its head in the sand?

Did you ever listen to the lily white ducks quacking around a pond? The French say that ducks are silly enough to believe anything and their gabbing is full of wild rumors and impossible tales. Their word for duck is canard,. And the word canard waddled over into English to mean an untrue piece of gossip. There is plenty of gossip about the ostrich. Some say he eats nails. Some say he hides his head in the sand at the first sign of trouble. Are these tales true or are they canards?

The ostrich is not a silly bird, He can cope with life in the wild against enemies like the fast cheetah and the hungry lion. What would a big cat do if he saw a moker bird with his head stuck in the sand? Pounce, of course, and gobble up a tasty dinner. If they were silly enough to invite _ this sort of trouble, all the ostriches in Africa would have been go bled up long ago, So this rumor must be a canard and should spread no further than the duck pond..

What's more, the ostrich has no need to hide from his enemies. Papa. Ostrich may stand eight feet tall.  He has splendid vision and spots trouble coming from afar. In fact, the fleet footed zebras often use him as a look‑out. They do their grazing near him and when they see the big bird start to run, off they scamper. The tall gentleman has most likely spotted a hungry meat‑eater stalking his dinner,

The big bird can really run. His long legs take him over the ground in 12 to 15 foot strides, He has no trouble keeping up a speed of 40 miles an hour. Only the cheetah can outdistance him, and then only for short spurts. Some say he always runs in a circle and a smart rider can catch up with him by taking a short cut. Actually the ostrich can run as straight as you or I. But he likes to stay near his friends and feeding grounds and often circles back after a long chase.

A big ostrich is not always lost even when a fast cheetah catches up with him. The hungry cat can pounce, claw and big. But the ostrich has a, trick of his own. He can kick. He weighs up to 300 pounds which means he can pack quite a wallop. The cheetah may win, but he will be too bruised to enjoy his dinner and may think twice before he decides to chase an ostrich again, More likely the ostrich will win, kick himself free and stride off to heal his scratches and grow a few new plumesy

Now what of the rumor about the ostrich eating nails? We say that a person who will eat large quantities of almost anything has an appetite like an ostrich. This is fair enough. For the ostrich will eat large amounts of almost anything. Being a bird, he digests his food in a second stomach, a strong muscle called a gizzard. Even small birds swallow bits of grit to help the gizzard do its chomping work„ The biggest bird in the world will swallow rocks because his biggest gizzard in the world needs them. And, if you offer him a nail, he may swallow that too, hoping that the hard spike will help his digestion. So that piece of gossip is true and not so silly, after all.