97 



Fill a large earthenware jar with bran or meal of any 

 kind, and put in a few layers of old sacking which 

 should be occasionally soaked in stale beer; stock your 

 jar with a pint of worms, and leave them alone for three 

 mouths in a warm corner, when they will probably 

 change into beetles [Tenebrio molitor) which lay eggs that 

 turn into worms, and thus the insect is propagated, and 

 increased from the original pint to many quarts. Of 

 course they will require additions of meal as they grow 

 in bulk. They are a most useful and nourishing food 

 and certainly rank next to ants' eggs in value. 



To he Continued. 



THE SMALL-BILLED PARRAKEETS. 



The genus Brotogerys contains eleven species, one or 

 two of which are now commonly imported, and several 

 of the others are occasionally to be met with. Russ calls 

 them "the Small -billed Parrakeets,"— the name is- 

 convenient, and certainh' much more appropriate than 

 the scientific name Brotogerys, which means "gifted with 

 human voice." They are all of them small, hardy, easih^ 

 tamed, and remarkably intelligent — certainly there are 

 no other small parrots equally amusing and suited to 

 cage life. But they are not talkers, though possibly 

 one of them might learn a word or tw'o. 



They are not very well adapted to the large outdoor 

 aviary, as they are somewhat quarrelsome and do not 

 endure cold well — but in a roomy cage, or in a small 

 indoor aviary all to themselves, a pair will be found to 

 make most amusing pets. While one kept singly, like 

 the Orange-flanked Mr. Townsend wrote about some 

 months ago, would doubtless get still tamer and more 

 familiar with his human friends. 



Canary-seed should be their staple diet, varied with 

 a few oats and hempseeds. They are very fond of fruity 

 and some biscuit or stale sponge cake is good for a 

 change. 



