Short Communications : — Birds, 269 



elegant and interesting genus of birds, first awakened my wish 

 to be better acquainted with these little sylvan cherubs ; and 

 although many disappointments ensued, yet occasional par- 

 tial success gave a zest to the undertaking, and encouraged 

 perseverance to endeavour to surmount the difficulty. After 

 obtaining a nest full of delicate little warblers, and bestowing 

 every possible care and attention to rear them, it has often 

 grieved me to find, in the morning, the poor little darlings 

 stretched out in silence on a mossy bier. Perhaps the rear- 

 ing of these little birds has neter been considered of sufficient 

 importance to call forth serious consideration ; but I have 

 often thought it extraordinary that, in the boundless field of 

 chemistry, some succedaneum could not be found out for a 

 maggot or a fly; and, after trying various experiments, I 

 have succeeded without the aid of chemistry. In the summer 

 of 1832, I obtained a nest of young willow wrens (Sylvia 

 Trochilus), and, after feeding them a few days with bread 

 and milk and bruised hemp-seed, I perceived they were going 

 the way of most favourites, and hastening rapidly to an end, 

 when a thought struck me, and I resolved to try it. In par- 

 taking of some vermicelli soup (and being constantly on the 

 prowl for my little favourites) I remarked how very similar 

 the vermicelli was to delicate worms or maggots ; and the idea 

 crossed me to let my little wrens have a taste, and try if they 

 could be restored. I accordingly steeped some fresh ver- 

 micelli in water, and gave the little yellow-throats ; when, 

 behold ! an almost instant resuscitation took place, and, from 

 extreme debility, they became sprightly and twittering in a 

 few hours, and nothing could be more healthy for a few days. 

 But, alas ! I lost my darlings for want of experience ; for the 

 food they were fed with at first was too aperient, and this 

 was in the contrary extreme, and glued up every avenue, and 

 stuck the feathers together like birdlime ; and death closed 

 the experiment. However, not to be daunted by this failure, 

 I obtained a nest of young chiff-chaffs (Sylvia hippolais) late 

 in the season, and prepared the vermicelli by boiling (instead 

 of steeping) it about ten minutes in water. Here, then, the 

 secret lay ; and with this food alone, unmixed with any other, 

 the little birds were fed the first week ; and afterwards hemp- 

 seed bruised, bread and milk, and boiled vermicelli formed 

 their principal food ; and they were reared with perfect ease, 

 and grew rapidly, with a further addition of raw meat mixed 

 with this food. Candour, however, obliges me to acknow- 

 ledge that none of my little chiff-chaffs are living. Out of 

 four of them, two met with untimely ends by the remorseless 

 jaws of bloody grimalkin ; a third was so hurt and frightened 



