146 On the best system of feeding insectivorous birds.


The seasons for live foods as they come round are: June to

middle of August, fresh live ants’ eggs; this I consider the finest

live food of any. September and October, fresh wasp grubs ; these

must not be used to excess as they are rather fattening. November

on to February (if the previous season had been a good one for

wasps) we fall back to preserved wasp grubs; these should be

shaken out of the comb and boiled for ten minutes, when they will

be found quite soft and white and almost look like the fresh ones :

there is plenty of sound nourishment in these grubs, but on account

of being preserved they are not nearly so fat-forming as the fresh

ones, consequently the birds can have more of them.


Mealworms and gentles can be had all the year round. This

forms pi'actically all the live foods we are able to obtain in quantity

and they are quite sufficient to keep the birds in good trim. Those

living in the country can, in the season, find a few caterpillars and

other insects, but as they cannot get them in large quantities they

come under the heading of tit-bits, which are exceedingly useful and

greatly relished by many birds.


The cheese I use is a white milk cheese, made exactly in the

same way as that known as York cheese and is called Callomieur

cheese, which I get freshly made from the Dairy Institute, a branch

of the University College here at Reading; anyone wishing to give

this cheese a trial as food for their birds (and they won’t regret it)

and find any difficulty in obtaining the York cheese, I shall be

pleased to forward them the Collomieur cheese.


Fed in the way I have advised, it is wonderful how well birds

will keep and how they will stand the cold I have had nightingales,

whitethroats, garden warblers, gold-crested wrens, tree creepers, red-

backed shrikes, long-tailed tits, redstarts, blackcaps, yellow wagtails,

and others out in my outdoor bird-houses without any artificial heat

whatever in winter, and have had to bring in their water dishes and

thaw them, sometimes twice in a day, and have not been able to see

through the windows all day for frost; in spite of this the birds have

all kept in the pink of condition because their food has suited them

and has thus enabled the birds to keep up the animal heat in their

bodies and so withstand the severe spells of weather. This they

could not possibly have survived if they had been out in the wild



