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and managing this one on the same lines, but he did 

 not take to the food at all ; he used to throw it out all 

 over the place and ate next door to nothing. I tried 

 several different things to tempt his appetite, but he 

 would have nothing to do with any of them, and by 

 Monday evening he had become so ver}'' thin and 

 weak that I was quite surprised to find him alive on 

 Tuesday morning. I caught him then, and as a last 

 resource filled his beak with crushed mealworms, he 

 was so far gone that he made no resistance when I 

 opened his beak to put them in. He had taken no 

 notice of the mealworms I had offered him previously 

 but when he tasted the crushed ones he seemed to like 

 them and after a little trouble swallowed them. I 

 then started off to the dealer to ask if he had noticed 

 what food the}'' had in their cage when he bought 

 them, and he told me they had been brought over 

 solely on boiled rice and potato ; so I tried him with 

 these and he soon picked up, but he mucli prefers the 

 food now, and though I still give him rice boiled with 

 currants, he does not eat very much of it, though he 

 picks out all the currants. He is ver\' fond of fruit, 

 particularly grapes or cherries, and unlike most birds 

 prefers his banana not too ripe. I have found in this 

 and several of my other experiences, that it is alwaj's 

 wiser to try and find out what food newly imported 

 birds have been brought over on, and to let them have 

 it at first, even if some of the ingredients are what 

 yo7i believe to be injurious, and to take it away from 

 them gradually, as some birds do not take to a fresh 

 food readily and it is decidedly against a bird's 

 chances to be on short commons after the hardships 

 of importation. 



