6 The Missel Thrush. 



climb to that which bore the nest : the question now was, how to get the 

 young birds into my basket without injury ; however as I leaned over the 

 nest, the youngsters quickly settled the difficulty by leaping out and fluttering 

 to the earth, screaming loudly the while. What with the old and young 

 birds together, the noise was something to be remembered. 



I reared both these birds without the slightest trouble, upon snails (dropped 

 into boiling water, taken from their shells, and cut into small pieces,) small 

 worms, and a paste made of oat-flour, known as " fig-dust," and fine pea- 

 meal ; as they grew older, however, they refused both worms and large snails, 

 though they would readily swallow small living snails in their shells. They 

 also ate both hawthorn berries and wheat greedily, subsequently ejecting the 

 seeds of the former and the tough skin of the latter from the crop with 

 considerable force, so that I have frequently found the ejected pellets several 

 feet from their cage. 



These two birds proved to be unmistakably a pair, the male having a 

 distinctly narrower head, slimmer build, more alert carriage and more master- 

 ful disposition ; indeed, after a time, he so tormented his companion, pulling 

 out her feathers and scolding whenever she approached him, that when a 

 friend took a fancy to her, I gladly gave her away. 



As the male bird gained strength, I gave him, as staple food, a mixture 

 of oat-flour, pea-meal, and Spratt's food (crushed dog biscuit), moistened with 

 sufficient water to form a crumb-paste ; on this diet he lived, with the addition 

 of an occasional insect or earthworm, and throve amazingly for nearly four 

 years, never having a day's illness, and always being ready for a frolic. If 

 I put my finger into his cage he would put one foot on it and thus holding 

 it down would flap his wings and hammer it with his bill : when I wished 

 to move him from one cage to another, he never attempted to get away until 

 I had grasped him firml}^, then indeed he would kick a bit and utter his 

 harsh guttural call. 



At length, in 1890, when my friend was three years and nine months 

 old, I was persuaded to send him to a show, but, unhappily, he who had 

 never tasted a particle of flesh was fed entirely on a mixture of finel}^ minced 

 raw beef mixed with breadcrumbs ; the result may be imagined — he had in- 

 cessant fits during the week of the show, was returned to me in a state of 

 apoplexy and died in a fit about an hour after he reached home. Never give 

 raw flesh to an}' but predaceous birds. 



Although hand-reared birds may make amusing pets, unless taught b}- 

 a wild bird, they never learn the wild song ; my Missel Thrush only sang 



