Notes oil some Birds in Confinement.



35



as his perch during the day. When insects became scarce. I

gave him a mixture of Spratt’s dog-biscuits (ground fine), yellow

of egg (raw), dried ant’s eggs, mealworms and raw beef, which

could easily be rolled into balls ; he would swallow two or three

in succession several times of an evening ; at other times he

refused food. He never learned to take up food by himself, but

greedily took it from the hand. With the disappearance of day¬

light he became very lively, using his wings sparingly, running

with a sliding motion over the carpet and a sofa, stopping fre¬

quently to scratch the ground and uttering a low purring sound.

He never showed any signs of shyness or timidity, but one day,

about Christmas, he was startled by the sudden and noisy

entrance of a person into the room, and flew out of the open

window which had been left without a wire guard. I saw him

alight in a neighbouring field, but never found or saw him

again.


These scanty notes will show at least that the Nightjar can

be kept in good health ; if taken young and not confined to a

cage, and that by its interesting habits, so different from those

of our other birds, it will amply repay the trouble which its keep

•entails. I must add, besides, that Mr. Galloway, of Caversham,

has kept one for a considerably longer time, and that, according

to an account in a foreign periodical, a German avicnlturist has

reared two young birds, which, in the year following, have nested

on the floor of the room in which they had been brought up.


Carrion Crow (Corvus corone).


Taken from the nest when nearly fully-fledged ; kept in a

small enclosure, but most of the time allowed free run in the

garden ; at first the wing-feathers of one side were shortened,

but after a year or two the bird, which proved to have been a

female, had full power of flight, of which she made occasional

use, absenting herself for two or three days. She was perfectly

domesticated and very fond of being petted by those she knew.

She lived with me 9 years and 8 months, and was found dead one

morning in her roosting place. A P. M. examination revealed

nothing but an inflamed condition of the skin of the throat, with

several punctures, like the pricks of a needle, for which I could

not find an explanation.



