206 



smaller end is very pointed, and the clutch is usually 

 four in number. 



Their movements and demeanour both on the 

 ground and in the branches are exactly those of the 

 English Starling ; the bill is pushed into the ground 

 and then opened out, very effectively turning up the 

 soil ; in a similar manner the seed is scattered from 

 the pans, and simply sent flying around ; and the soft 

 food would share the same fate but for its more 

 adhesive character, but this by the same means is 

 most effectively sorted over, and only that which is to 

 their liking is taken. 



Food : I should certainly give them seed, fruit, 

 soft food and some live insects. In my aviary they 

 have access to Dove mixture and Parrakeet mixture, 

 Canary, millet, fruit, soft food, mealworms, beetles, 

 etc., and they certainly sample the lot, and are in the 

 best and tightest condition imaginable. I may say, so 

 as to anticipate a possible query, that my soft food 

 mixture consists of Spratt's Partridge meal, fine crissel, 

 crushed Osborne biscuits, dried silkworm pupae, dried 

 flies, scalded grocer's currants, and boiled potato, or 

 grated raw carrot. If I require any for very delicate 

 insectivorous or semi-frugivorous birds, then I add a 

 liberal portion of sponge cake and also ripe fruit 

 where it is required. 



Habitat : Cuba. 



