Mr. P. F. M. Galloway,



i 86



was nothing to be done but take them and rear by hand. When

I took them out they were almost stone cold and could only just

move, I kept them in my warm hands and before I reached

home they were getting lively from the warmth. At that time I

had a small Hearson’s Incubator at work, so I placed them in

the warm drying box at the top of the Incubator, and this having

a glass lid I was thereby able to see at a glance how they were

going on, and within half-an-hour their necks were all stretched

out and their mouths open for food. I fed them every twenty to

thirty minutes, from 5 a.111. to dusk, on live insect food, con¬

sisting of daddy long legs, wood lice, earwigs and smooth green

caterpillars found on Oak and Beech trees, also found on the

leaves of Hazelnut bushes. Knowing where to find this food in

plenty, I had no trouble and the birds thrived, grew quickly and

feathered well. When fifteen days old I added to their diet the

larvae of the cockchaffer, selecting the smaller ones, also meal¬

worms ; at three weeks old, I began to give them small pieces of

my own soft food “Life” and gradually substituted live fresh

ants’ eggs for the caterpillars, etc.


No water was given until they were being fed partly on

soft food and then only a drop occasionallv.


Nestlings do not require water and it is never carried

to them by the old birds, the caterpillars and other insects given

by the parent birds contain quite sufficient moisture ; even in the

case of Hardbills, the parents carry no water to the young, the

various seeds being fed to the young somewhat in a pappy state

from the crop of the old birds, and not until the young begin to

feed themselves is water really required. The five grew into

very fine birds and they proved to be two cocks and three hens,

the former had very rich scarlet caps on their heads and the

black and white plumage was also very rich, in fact the) 7 w'ere

almost as bright in plumage as the adults and exceedingly tame.


I kept them for some time together in a large cage fitted

up with bark from an oak tree.


After some weeks, I took the three hens and released them

in the same neighbourhood as I had taken them from and quite

close to the same spot.


I walked down to see if I could see anything of them a



