Notes for the Month.



235



come out to feast when mortals think of bed, and if one goes ex¬

ploring about 11 p.m., especially on the lawn or along the north

borders of the garden one will find thousands of worms of all sorts

and sizes. Now worms for all their worminess are crafty creatures

and the slightest jar on the ground or the snapping of a twig under

foot will alarm the lowly worm. It seems as if they have perception

of light for I have noticed that if one stands perfectly motionless

and suddenly turns the light on there is a glint, a flash, and a dis¬

appearance of something! That something was an earthworm.

However, after a few moments you can get to work and having

very carefully defined which is the head end you snap the worm as

far from the head as possible and with the same movement with¬

draw Lumbricus terrestris before he has had time to dig himself in.

In this way during showery weather I have captured up to 250 in an

hour. One should only take the smaller and middle-sized worms.

The big ones are, as often as not, wasted. Worm-hunting really

provides excellent sport to those who cannot afford a salmon stream

or a deer-forest. But the number of birds that require worms is

rather limited, which is a pity since this form of diet costs nothing.


It was intended to deal with nesting sites, but consideration

seemed to show that food was the more important and the “monthly

notes ” were never intended to supersede other and more important

matter, so that one cannot deal with both this month.


When the young do hatch out one must be ready on the

instant with live food and supplies given at least every two hours*

as, after feeding the young, the old birds clear the dish. And it is

for this reason if for no other that it is an advantage to have as few

pairs as possible in one aviary. For all mealworm eaters (and how

many are not ?) will expect and see they get their share. It is not

altogether satisfactory to give the parents, however tame, one at a

time unless one can give up 18 out of the 24 hours to one’s birds.

Experience has shown that the result of this is generally only to

rear one out of a brood. To throw mealworms down, broadcast, is

extravagant and results in the old birds trying to force “giants” down

infant throats. A good plan is to put a dozen or fifteen of the

proper sized worms in a glass dish, out of which the worms cannot

crawl but out of which the biids can easily land their fish. The



