6 BRITISH BIRDS 



instruction will be given on the subject of the feeding 

 and breeding in confinement of the different kinds of 

 birds passed in review, premising that if suitably lodged, 

 and intelligently fed and attended to, there is no bird 

 that will not successfully nest and rear its young in 

 confinement — a practical proof, if such were needed, that 

 captivity is not so distasteful to birds as some of their 

 self-styled friends would like it to be imagined. 



To this end the material and construction of the several 

 kinds of nests will be indicated, as well as the positions 

 for their domicile affected by each. The number of 

 eggs to a brood must also be known, or rather the 

 average number, otherwise mistakes would be made, and 

 incubation perhaps be thought at an end before it really was. 



Patience, however, it must be remembered, is of all 

 things most necessary in matters ornithological. A slight 

 precipitancy on the part of the owner may easily mar the 

 labour of weeks in a moment, as when, thinking the young 

 birds ought to be out, he breaks the shells (to help them) 

 a day before they are due, and so destroys them all : 

 therefore, it becomes essential to mention not only the 

 average number of eggs laid, but the period at which 

 their incubation commences and the length of time this takes. 



Some birds only have one brood in the season, while 

 others have two, or more; where such is the case, the 

 fact will be stated, as well as the precise time for taking 

 the young, in order to bring them up by hand ; for if 

 too old, they may refuse to feed, or to be fed, and if 

 too young they may not be able to keep themselves 

 warm enough without being brooded by the mother, 

 especially at night. 



If it be noticed how, and how often, birds feed their 

 nestlings, it will be seen that the length of time usually 

 mentioned in books that is to elapse between what one may 

 call each meal, is inaccurately given at half an hour, or 

 even an hour, for, as a matter of fact, every little bird 

 (we are not now speaking of the predaceous species) is 

 fed every eight or ten minutes from daylight to dusk, one 

 mouthful at a time. 



Forty-seven times in an hour have two Nightingales 



