234



Notes for the Month.



tute for other forms of live food and they are very cheap, also very

loathsome.


Later in the season wasp grub comes in. This is both cheap

and admirable, but one cannot get it in June as a rule so we must

leave that out for the present at least.


Finally we come to smooth caterpillars, green fly, and other

entomological oddities. If you have many leisure hours (and the

daylight saving bill will give you an extra one now) by all means

pursue the wily “ looper,” the corpulent noctuid or the wriggling

tineid. The birds will consume all you can get. Spiders, the ex¬

emplars of skill and patience, are also desirable guests in the aviary

but with their greedy eyes, their restless palpae and long hairy legs

it is small wonder that people find it takes all their courage to stamp

on these repulsive creatures. You cannot provide too many of them

for your birds. Another insect very greatly appreciated is the crane

fly or daddy-longlegs. I have caught thousands of these at night

time resting on posts, the grass, fences, sheds, &c., but not generally

till after mid-summer.


If you are trying to rear any of the thrush tribe, earthworms

will be a cheap and efficacious form of diet. There are several ways

of getting earthworms, not all of equal merit. The first is the

scientific method, i.e. by driving a stick into the ground and twist¬

ing it round. At the same time, I imagine, you have to make a

noise like a mole. The theory is that worms come leaping out of

the soil or turf. In common with many scientific and expert

theories it doesn’t always work and the worms generally “ lie low

and say nutfink.”


The next method is the labour method of catching them, i.e.

by digging. This is tedious, laborious, and monotonous. Moreover

the worms you thus get are generally a horrid livid hue, and,

although eaten, not nearly so much relished as what, I think,

fishermen call brandlings. Again, they are apt to be very large

and birds much prefer small worms. Still it is a means of collect¬

ing worms and quite a good one. Also one tills the soil at the

same time.


The third method is the sporting method. All one needs in

this method is a bright light and fingers as quick as eyes. Worms



