THE FLOWER-PECKEES. 117 



This species has been successfully kept in capti\4ty. 

 Mr. E. W. Harper sent a pair to the London Zoological 

 Gardens, and Mr. F. Groser had two lovely fuU-plumaged 

 cock birds as perfect as wild ones, which he had successfully 

 reared from the nest, feeding them at first on small 

 grasshoppers. But, as I said above, I do not recommend 

 these birds as pets, and should rather advise my readers to 

 try and improve acquaintance with them by growing such 

 plants as bear flowers of which they especially approve, or 

 even hanging out little vessels of syrup for them. One of the 

 grudges I bear against Philip Sparrow is that I have seen 

 him drive away these harmless little things when a pair 

 actually came to my verandah, the hen picking up bits 

 of fluff for nesting material ; in the absence of this feathered 

 hooligan I have no doubt we should see far more of the 

 numerous more attractive small birds. 



THE FLOWER-PECKERS. 



These tiny creatures, the smallest birds of the Old 

 World, to the warm parts of which they are confined, are 

 little known, though not rare. As they are so very tiny, 

 smaller even than Waxbills or White-eyes, and keep to 

 the tops of high trees, where they feed on berries, 

 inseo^, etc., it is not easy to make their acquaintance. 

 Fortunately, however, it is sometimes possible to obtain 

 specimens of them alive, and they can be kept in captivity. 

 They always have rather short tails, but their bills 

 may be either thick or thin and, w^hen looked at under 

 a hand-lens are found to be saw-edged, as are also those 

 of the Honey-suckers. 



