1 42 BRITISH BIRDS 



shreds of raw lean meat are placed on top of the ants' 

 eggs, it will not be long before the bird will eat these, too; 

 once he does, it is plain sailing afterwards. 



Should there be any sign of constipation, a teaspoonful 

 of Dinneford's fluid magnesia should be given in two 

 tablespoonfuls of water for drinking, and that will quickly 

 relieve the sufferer. 



It is comparatively rare for a Nightingale, taken when 

 full-grown, to live long in the house, but those that have 

 been carefully reared from the nest and are properly fed 

 and attended to afterwards, will survive in health and 

 beauty for ten or twelve or even more years in confine- 

 ment, which is, in all probability, a much longer span of 

 life than they would have enjoyed in a state of freedom. 



The exquisite song of the Nightingale forms, no doubt, 

 its chief attraction, but its tameness and familiarity must 

 equally commend it to the notice of bird-lovers. True, it 

 has not the intelligence of the Bullfinch, for instance, and 

 is incapable of developing that affection for its custodian 

 or patron that is such a marked characteristic of the latter 

 bird, but it possesses the inferior quality known as "cupboard 

 love" in a marked degree, and that very often does duty 

 for the nobler sentiment, and affords an equal amount 

 of satisfaction to the recipient. 



While it is distinctly understood that the Nightingale is 

 unable to stand the cold of our winters, it would be an 

 error in the opposite extreme to keep it too warm, and 

 especially so in any place where there is not full and 

 free ventilation, without draught. Great heat, particularly 

 when combined with a stagnant atmosphere, will certainly 

 have a most disastrous effect, inducing congestion of the 

 liver, constipation, and fits, as well as premature moult, 

 which has a most debilitating effect. 



Extremes of temperature must be avoided, for which 

 reason no worse place could be found for the bird than 

 a kitchen, where the heat is often very great during the 

 day, and is followed by the opposite extreme of cold when 

 the fire has been put out at night. For the same reason 

 it is a very bad plan to cover the cage up closely, for 

 that confines the air, which becomes not only exhausted 



