222 Rciniiiisccjiccs. 



out, one foot on one reed and the other on another. Xothin^- 

 alive escapes their httle beady eyes, and tliey are never still for 

 one moment. But. althoni^ii full of confidence. I have never 

 found them extraordinarily tame. Like all soft-bills they 

 would sell their wee souls for a mealworm, and I have known 

 many of them readily eat banana. I think there is little doubt 

 that the young- are fed on some plant life which they obtain 

 from stagnant water — some form of aJga perhaps. At any 

 rate, if anybody should think of keeping them the banana diet 

 would probably prove very beneficial. People tell you they 

 have fits and must not be given too many mealworms. Possibly 

 that is so. but how many people think of a contributory cause, 

 such as. a stuffy room, or lack of exercise, or of a corrective in 

 the diet such as banana. Another thing they love is crumbled 

 Yorkshire cheese. For this wonderful advice I am indebted 

 to Mr. Galloway, who, I should say. is perhaps one of the most 

 skilled of British bird-keepers of the age. and a most interesting 

 man to meet. Yorkshire cheese is a splendid article of diet for 

 all birds, and most of them are very fond of it. But how 

 seldom you see it on the avian menu. 



T kept Bearded Reedlings for about tlnxe years and never 

 wearied of them. The first season I was all but successful in 

 breeding" them, but " very nearly never killed a man " or 

 reared a young bird. The next season they made no mistake, 

 and fully reared three of the sweetest little birds you could meet 

 in a day's march. I never kept them through the next moult, 

 but gave them to Mr. Frostick when T " joined up." The 

 sexes were quite indisting"uishal)le several weeks, if not months 

 after they left the nest. Mine were bred in a travelling cage, 

 but a beautiful nest was built in the rushes, a photograph of 

 \\hich is here shown. The camera was pointed down into the 

 nest, m.'ds'ing tlie eggs appear round, whereas they are quite 

 oval. I'he natural nest is composed entirely of the leaves of 

 the reeds with a slight lining of fine grass. The eggs are 

 uvallv live in mnuber and white with very faint tracings of 

 brown. If m^• memory serves me aright the hen does all the 

 incultiting, and the cock feeds the hen on the nest. Both 

 I)arents feed the young. But one pretty incident occurred in 



