42 



be caught in the Spring, how are they to be obtained 

 for the house? The objections stated do not apply to 

 taking them in the Autumn just before their departure, 

 and if they are then freely supplied with live insects 

 they will soon become reconciled to their changed 

 surroundings, and make themselves at home. Or they 

 may be taken from the nest and brought up by hand, 

 but such birds do not as a rule sing as well as those 

 which are taken full grown in the Autumn. 



There is no difficulty in hand-rearing a young 

 Nightingale if a few necessary points are observed. 

 Their own nest if possible, or one of some other bird 

 such as a Chaffinch or a Hedge Sparrow, with the 

 young Nightingales in it should be placed in a little 

 round basket with a lid, and if this is kept closed as a 

 rule, the young birds will open their mouths to be fed 

 when the lid is raised. The feeding can be done very 

 readily by taking up three or four ants' eggs at a time 

 with a pair of small forceps or tweezers and thrusting 

 them well down into the wide open mouths of the 

 youngsters, who will then swallow the food without 

 any hesitation. Care must however be taken that only 

 the eggs are used, and that no portion of the rubbish 

 usually included in them be given to the birds, as it 

 would bring on fatal stomachic troubles. In addition 

 to the ants' eggs any small insects that can be cap- 

 tured, especially small green caterpillars, may also be 

 administered to the youthful Nightingales, which re- 

 quire feeding every ten or twelve minutes from day- 

 light to dark, a somewhat troublesome proceeding that 

 no one should attempt, who is not prepared to carry it 

 out faithfully. 



Sometimes a tame insectivorous bird, particularly 



