in Vol. I. of Bird NoteSy where he speaks of an 

 Emerald Paradisea being kept in China " for over 

 nine years among a magnificent collection of the 

 rarest foreign birds obtainable." Mrs. Little also tells 

 us of a gentleman of Macao who when he died had 

 been the possessor for eighteen 3'ears of a Bird of 

 Paradise, which even then was in good health and 

 plumage. 



To come nearer home : in Italy the only food 

 given to Nightingales and other "delicate" insec- 

 tivorous birds is the dried pupa of tlie Silkworm 

 Moth : according to the Rev. H. D. Astley in Vol. I. 

 (new series), of the Aviadtural Magazine, Herr 

 Kullman, of Frankfort, exclusively keeps Nightingales 

 and other Warblers on a food he calls " Lucullus," and 

 has had a Bluethroat for eight years and a Nightingale 

 for sixteen ; as I write these lines I have before me not 

 only a sample of this food but also a letter from Herr 

 Kullman, in which he tells me he never uses eofsf. 

 Herr Fries of Bad-Honiburg also keeps his Blackcaps, 

 Nightingales, Blue-throats etc. on nothing else but 

 this egg-free food, and at the Zoological Gardens at 

 Frankfort all the insectivorous birds are fed on the 

 same. Amongst these Mr. Astley noticed "Long- 

 tailed Titmice, Golden-crested Wrens, Black Red- 

 starts, Great Reed Warblers, Alpine Accentors, 

 Golden Orioles and many others." Here in England 

 Mr. Heselton uses nothing but an insect food of 

 his own preparation, which I liave examined micro- 

 scopically and found to contain no ^z^, and to be 

 in every respect exactly what it claims to be. One 

 of his customers has kept two Goldcrests on this 

 alone for four years — and these are birds, be it borne 

 in mind, which Mr. Seth - Smith tells us (in Vol. 

 VIII. of the Aviadtural Magazine) are difficult to 

 keep successfully. Naturally they would be difficult 

 to keep— on ^%%. But anyhow, we see that all those 



