Living 1'OOD for Inskctivorous Birds. 67 



Aracliiiid a bird gets insect-food in a concentrated form; there- 

 fore, although I was scoffed at some years ago for speaking of 

 spiders as a sort of bird's Bovril, I don't think the comparison, 

 was in the least degree a ridicnlons one. 



Of the Myriopoda, which also are not insects, the centi- 

 pedes are eaten with avidity, but the millipedes are refused. 

 The broad centipede (yLithobius forficatiis) is sometimes met witlr 

 when separating a cask of flower-pots for greenhouse work, but 

 these little animals are not so abundant as to be of great im- 

 portance to the aviculturist ; nevertheless they should not be 

 thrown away when much food is needed for rearing young birds. 



Of the Thysamira the abundant little so-called "Silver- 

 fish " (^Lepisffta) may often be obtained in abundance under boxes 

 or tins or even in the mealworm-pan, and though it is so active 

 and brittle that it cannot well l)e picked up and offered to a bird,. 

 it may be brushed into a basin and tlie latter placed in an aviary 

 when the whole collection will speedily be devoured. 



Mayflies {^Ephemeridcs) and caddis- worms (^Phryganeidcg) are,, 

 as is well-known, favourite food for all insect-eating creatures,, 

 the latter can be obtained in a dried form from Germany and 

 from some of the English dealers, but in this case they must 

 be scalded before they can be used as the)' are verj' hard when- 

 received in their tinned form. The smaller Dragon flies are 

 eaten, but are not easily obtained in quantity. 



Termites or so-called White-ants would be excellent food 

 for our pets if we could only get them preserved in quantities : 

 they are one of the plagues of tropical countries and could easih'' 

 be collected and dried for importation as bird-food, but nobody 

 seems to have had sufficient enterprise to make use of them. 

 Earwigs (^Euplexoptera) are well known to be acceptable and 

 these can easily be obtained in the autumn, by crumpling up 

 paper and ramming it into a flower- pot inverted over the sticks or 

 stakes used as supports for Delphiniums, Dahlias, &c. Remove 

 the pots to an aviary or large cage and open the paper, when the 

 insects will drop out in numbers and form a pleasing variety iu 

 the dietary of your insectivores. 



The Orthoptera generally are acceptable to birds, but in 

 this country few can be secured even in fair quantities ; perhaps- 



