The blood of the ostrich

Abstract

1. Methods are described for collecting blood and preparing smears from the ostrich. 2. Ostrich blood usually has a very prolonged coagulation time and often it fails to coagulate if drawn directly from a blood vessel without coming into contact with the tissues. Heparin (1 mgm. to 5 c.c. blood) invariably prevented coagulation and it had no deleterious effect on the blood. 3. Various methods recommended for counting leucocytes in avian blood were tried on ostrich blood. Wiseman’s method was found to be the best. 4. Morphological and biochemical studies of the blood of twenty-two ostriches were made, and the average values and ranges obtained for the blood of normal ostriches are given. 5. The average total blood volume was 5.466 c.c. and its weight expressed as a percentage of the average body weight was 5.8. The total blood volume ranged from 5.220 to 6.355 c.c. and its weight constituted 5.2 to 6.3 per cent. of the body weight. 6. Cell types corresponding to those seen in fowl blood occur in ostrich blood. These have been described.