7- 



.1 CaViiovman A^'iarx ami its Inmates. 



S(jltl)il1 mixture locally, and tlu)U,i;ii il iiii.L;iit be nmch improved 

 upon I make it do hy addins^' a few things myself. My birds seem 

 to prefer an addition ol ,L;rate<l carrot or sweet ap])le to anythins^' 

 else, and I ha\e ne\er been able to ])ersiiade tliem to appreciate 

 potato in the mixture. To tin's mixture I add a small quantity 

 of dried flies, wliicli ha\e l)een coming; to us in \ery ,i;'ood quality 

 of late, and a few Chinese wee\ils. I ne\er saw these until 1 

 came out here ,and they have only been imported of recent years. 

 They are a small weevil about half the size of a small grain of 

 rice, of a light yellow colour, kec]) well, and are readily eaten 

 by all the insectivorous i irds once they discover what they arc 

 which for some reason or other takes longer than one vvoulil 

 think. Mealworms are always on liand, and a few are thrown 

 to the birds every day along with what other insects we can knd, 

 but, except in Spring, these are somewhat scarce, though snails 

 and slugs for the Blackbirds and Thrushes can generally be 

 picked up. 



I had almost forgotten to mention perhaps the most 

 important item of all — milksop. I fully endorse everything 

 Mr. Page says of it. and it has certainly pulled through manv a 

 doubtful case for me. T'robably it is needless for me to sav 

 that I am most particular to see that food receptacles are always 

 kept clean, and that no food is allowed to sour in the aviary. 



In California fruit of some sort is nearlv alwavs procur- 

 able, so I .always have some before the birds. The favourites 

 seem to be apple, pear, orange, grapes, canteloupe. blackberries 

 cherries, and. i)erhaps most of all. green hgs. I have never 

 had a bird yet, and I include hlnglish r>lackl)irds ;ind Thrushes 

 in the list, that seemed to care for either raspberries or straw- 

 berries, and 1 have tried them often enough with both. 

 P)rmanas are eaten only by some of the fruit-eating birds, and 

 those that do eat them seem to prefer orange. The reason 

 for this probably is that bananas are imi:)orted in a half ripe 

 state, whereas our oranges are ])icked ripe from the tree. T 

 have noticed that birds are, as a rule, shy of any new food that 

 is placed before them, and that it is left practically untouched 

 for a day or two i< no guarantee that it will not be greedily 

 eaten later on. 



