138 Practical Bird-Keeping. — II. The British Warblers.


tities at any time of the year, the feeding of Warblers must

remain as it is at present, a compromise between a natural and

an artificial diet.


Nevertheless, the system which I shall venture to put

before you is an attempt to render the feeding, of insectivorous

birds more simple, more economical and more natural. I aim at

feeding the Warblers entirely 011 live insect food but, inasmuch

as this is not always practicable, it is absolutely necessary to

have some kind of stock-food as a stand by. The very best I

know of is Mr. Galloway’s “Life” food, which, I believe, is

chiefly composed of dried flies and ant-cocoons and “ gram ”

(known in India as satoo or satin'). I use a good deal of “ Life”

and I should use more if I were wealthier, but a family of some

forty Softbills is not fed for nothing. I, therefore, substitute for

general use ordinary sponge-cakes, as sold at twenty-five a shill¬

ing. They are fairly nutritious, require 110 preparation, and

cannot by any possibility become stale or sour. I do not crumble

or damp them. There is alleged to be some egg in sponge-cakes,

with regard to which I can only say “ credat Judceus Apella," but

at all events I do not use egg in any other form. Freshly-boiled

yolk of egg is, however, undoubtedly nutritious and we must also

accept the fact, strange as it may appear, that some aviculturists

can use even stale egg with success. For instance, our member

Mr. Tinniswood Miller recently recommended (in Bird Notes') a

soft-food mixture which included “the yokes of two hard-boiled


eggs rubbed in,.made up fresh every week" (my italics),


and Mr. Miller, as we all know, is most successful with his birds.


The only practicable and inexpensive form of live insect

food which I at present know of is gentles, These are somewhat

indigestible and most unpalateable ; hence our Warblers will

not eat many at a time, and we can, therefore, afford to keep

some always before them. Instead of gorging on live-food my

Warblers take a few from time to time as they feel inclined,

which is, of course, exactly what they would do in a state of

nature. I will ask you to carefully compare this system with the

conventional one of making the bulk of the food supplied arti¬

ficial and giving a little live insect food as a luxury.


In the matter of obtaining gentles in the winter I think



