74 INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS 



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busily eating the small Plutella moths in the early morning 

 when the dew was still upon the grass. At such a time 

 one in a family will usually expand its body feathers and 

 become almost spherical in aj)pearance ; another will seem 

 to rest lazily as much upon its tail as upon its feet, while 

 the wings lie limp and disarranged. Under such circum- 

 stances the young show no fear, and leave all timidity to 

 their parents. The staple articles of their diet seem to be 

 grasshoppers, hard-winged insects, and larvoe. The per- 

 sistent work of my correspondent, Mr. Geo. Graham, as a 

 skilled keeper of wrens in captivity, in the providing of 

 food, has proved that they are capable of disposing of 

 eighty larv?e of the Cockchafer Beetle ( Anoplognathous) daily 

 for months in succession. As to food supplied — quantity, 

 preference, &c. — it was noted that from July to the 1st of 

 January, grubs with a little finely-chopped meat, bread 

 crumbs, small beetles, and caterpillars formed the bulk of 

 the food. It generally managed to dispose of sixty grubs, 

 about a dozen small insects, and a small proportion of 

 bread and meat, sufficient to equal the bulk of one hundred 

 grubs as named above, per day. From 1st January to 1st 

 April grasshoppers formed the staple, varied with March 

 flies and cockroaches. The quantity devoured amounts to 

 about the same as with the grubs, namely, 100 per day, 

 and the immature form of the great green grasshopper is 

 preferred to all other kinds of food given to it. Moths, 

 March flies, and small winged insects are greedily de- 

 voured — in fact, it can stow away four large "blow-flies" 

 on a fairly full stomach ! 



At the commencement of the breeding season the males 

 show the greatest activity, for as many as five have been 

 seen engaged in a pugilistic encounter to determine who 

 should claim the favoured female. Nest-building usually 



