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Mr. P. F. M. Galloway,



myself, but I can assure the readers of this article that it is one of

the finest things that these birds can be fed upon and is greatly

superior to hard-boiled egg, and, unlike the latter, can be given

without the slightest danger at all times of the year; in addition, I

might add that the feeding qualities of this cheese are perfect. It

is extremely nourishing, easily digested by the birds, is muscle¬

forming and not fat-forming. Whilst I am writing this, my gold-

crested wrens that are so fond of it are singing quite loudly, con¬

sidering what tiny mites they are.


Now we come to the question once more of live insect food,

and this is very important. Although the birds will do well on the

soft food and cheese, it would be wrong to imagine that one need

only give a mealworm or other live insect occasionally by way of a

treat, and this is where I feel confident birds are lost when they

might be living. It is simple to understand when one comes to

think the matter out.


The purely insectivorous bird is not so difficult to keep as

some might imagine if they are fed in the proper way, at proper

times, and on the proper foods.


I am not going to say that if so fed the birds are never going

to be attacked by some disease or complaint; everything, even down

to plant-life is liable to this, and I shall write an article at some

future date :,: dealing with the various ailments of birds and how a

cure can be made almost a certainty of if taken in time.


These insectivorous birds in their wild state would be devour¬

ing live insects at intervals, from sunrise to sunset, therefore they

should have a fair share of that food each day; to stint a bird in

this direction and make him live on the stock food for the most

part is a mistake, which is going to bring trouble and the trouble

would occur in an aviary where there were several birds, especially in

winter, sooner than in a cage where a single bird was kept. A

bird in a cage would begin to look soft and would be noticed at once,

but in a large aviary the bird or birds suffering for want of extra

live food might not be detected so easily.


What may happen in the aviary is this, suppose several soft-

billed birds are kept together, they have a few mealworms thrown

* We should like a series.—ED.



