Practical Bird-Keeping .— Correspoyidente.



139



the best course will be to give you the address of Mr. F. Fishburn,

Silsdeu, Keighley, who can supply at reasonable rates throughout

the year. I produce my own gentles in an Incubator which,

however, is exceedingly imperfect (being probably the first of

its kind) and is so difficult to manage that I cannot recommend

it.


The above system of feeding will be found adequate for all

the Warblers in our list, except the little “ Fork-tails,” and for

these I have found Mr. Galloway’s system (“Life,” crumbled

York cheese and chopped mealworms) fairly successful. It is

important to remember that all insectivorous birds should be fed

on as dry food as practicable, one advantage of which is that the

crop, which has a tendency to become slimy, is kept in good

order. I have known a Blackcap fed successfully on a perfectly

dry mixture of Quaker Oats and small seeds, and this is the more

remarkable because there is some evidence that insectivorous

birds cannot digest seeds unless crushed. I have, however, seen

a Black Redstart eating Canary seed, and on several occasions

have noticed insectivorous birds feeding their young on small

seeds, so the latter may perform some useful function even if not

fully digested.


P.S.—I have omitted to say that ripe fruit should always

form part of the diet.



PRACTICAL BIRD-KEEPING.—CORRESPONDENCE.



BURMESE ROLLERS.


Sir, —I have just had sent to me a Burmese Roller; the bird is poor

but, I think, health} - .


Can you tell me the proper diet for the bird; raw meat seems to be

the only thing it cares about, also mealworms and beetles.


The insectivorous mixture it does not seem to care about.


I11 the cage the Roller came in was sponge cake and millet seed, no

wonder the poor creature is thin if it was expected to eat the latter.


E. J. Brook.


The following leply has been sent to Mr. Brook :


I11 their wild state the Rollers are strictly animal-feeders, living upon

various insects, small mammals such as mice, shrews, etc. ; they may per¬

haps also eat frogs and newts: in fact they are far more strictly animal-

feeders than the Crows, which perhaps explains why they have been so

rarely kept excepting in Zoological Gardens.


Russ does not mention Rollers in his “ Foreign Chamber-birds,” nor



