26 BRITISH BIRDS 



however, capable to a great extent of imitating the notes 

 of other birds, and one, hand-reared, that was in the 

 writer's possession for a considerable time had learned of 

 its own accord to imitate the song of a Canary in quite a 

 wonderful manner, considering the relative sizes of the 

 two performers. 



There is one drawback to keeping this pretty little 

 bird in the house : its natural food consists of insects of 

 the smallest size, such as gnats, aphides, and tiny beetles, 

 so that if it is given mealworms or blackbeetles it will 

 be absolutely necessary to cut them up, or the bird will 

 have not only great difficulty in disposing of them, but 

 they will give rise to indigestion, which of course is 

 much to be deprecated. As the cutting up of live insects 

 with penknife or scissors is objectionable, it is a good 

 plan to kill them by either pouring boiling water on them, 

 or dropping them into it, which at once destroys them, and 

 in the most painless manner possible, as they appear to 

 die instantly without the slightest struggle. 



THE CHOUGH. 



At one time the Chough was a sufficiently common 

 bird on the southern and eastern coasts of Great Britain, 

 but his beautiful glossy black plumage, long red bill and 

 orange-coloured legs, marked him out for notice, and he 

 has been in such request not only by aviarists, but by 

 taxidermists and "collectors," that he is now pretty well 

 exterminated. 



Like the other members of the Crow family, the Cornish 

 Chough will become very tame and as full of quips and 

 cranks as a country circus clown, but his scarcity has made 

 him valuable, and at shows he generally commands a prize. 



The natural diet of the species consists of insects of all 

 kinds, land and water molluscs, and an occasional bit 

 of carrion for a change : in the house he may be fed like 

 the other members of the family with which he is connected. 



The female Chough can be distinguished from her 

 mate by her slightly smaller size, her shorter and 



