1 1 8 BRITISH BIRDS 



with boughs, which should always, where practicable, take 

 the place of the abominable regulation straight perch. 



The food, which should consist of beetles, cockroaches, 

 mealworms, etc., must not be thrown on the ground, but 

 placed in little cups among the branches, where the birds will 

 take it readily enough, but will starve sooner than descend 

 and pick it off the floor: ants' eggs and wasp-grubs are 

 specially valuable in this case, and beetles, etc., should 

 be killed by dropping into boiling water before being 

 placed at the disposal of the Roller. 



As the species is indigenous to the northern parts 'of 

 Africa and the Mediterranean islands, especially Malta, 

 where it occurs in considerable numbers, it must not be 

 exposed to a lower temperature than 60 degrees Fahr., or 

 it will get congestion of the liver and speedily die. 



THE RED-LEGGED HORSEMAN. See Red- 

 shank. 



THE IMBER. See Diver (Great Northern). 



THE JACKDAW. 



This bird may be called the Bantam of the Crow family, 

 for he is only 12 or 13 inches in length. The feathers on 

 his head are of a greyish colour, and he has the power of 

 raising them into a kind of crest. The Jackdaw frequents 

 towns, and often builds his nest on public buildings in 

 company with the semi-wild Pigeons that frequent such 

 places, and to which he is an unfriendly neighbour, for he 

 often robs them of their young. He is not such a good 

 linguist as the Raven, though he is more gifted in that 

 respect than the Rook or the Crow, but he is as mischievous 

 as any of them, and if allowed about at liberty, with or 

 without clipped wings, care should be taken that nothing of 

 glittering appearance be left in his way, for, if it is not too 

 big, he will assuredly carry it off and hide it, and might thus. 



