THRUSHES. 







strictly following the method usually recommended, 

 and even then the patient was left so weak that, al- 

 though for a day or two it even recovered its song, it 

 almost immediately caught cold and died of pneumonia. 

 Even the heroic method of treatment, though rarely suc- 

 cessful, is occasionally more satisfactory; on several 

 occasions I have adde"d a year or more to the life of a 

 "bird by reducing its temperature with a- syringe, and 

 once lengthened the life of an Indigo Finch for two 

 years by picking it up when in a dying condition in 

 the corner of my bird-room and turning it out into the 

 winter frosts of my outside aviary ; at the same time I 

 do not advocate this treatment it is kill or cure, and 

 usually the former. 



Scurvy, a nasty and dangerous disease, I once cured 

 in the case of a Persian Bulbul by increasing the amount 

 of fruit and green-meat in its daily food ; probably at- 

 tention to diet might arrest this disease in other birds. 

 Imperfect moulting generally arises from want of nour- 

 ishing food and cuttlefish bone, and to chills contracted 

 through insufficient exercise or draught. Wounds should 

 be anointed with vaseline. Broken legs, unless the frac- 

 ture is a clean one, are less likely to inflame if com- 

 pletely severed with a pair of sharp-pointed scissors ; 

 Tout a simple fracture may be bound up in splints made 

 by splitting up a goose-quill. 



In order to prevent deaths resulting from quarrels, it 

 is necessary to avoid mixing up birds of unequal 

 strength and uncertain tempers. An aviary for Wax- 

 bills and Mannikins may also contain Bichenos, or 

 Zebra Finches, also Gouldian Finches, a Combassou, and 

 several Grey Singing Finches, with many other little 

 birds of about the same size, but not Cutthroats or any 

 larger birds. The smaller Parrakeets may sometimes 

 be kept together, but not with other birds. Blue Robins 

 and Pekin Nightingales, though very amiable so far as 

 I have found (but not so in the experience of some bird- 

 keepers, who complain that they seize tiny birds by 

 wing or leg and swing them about to the danger of both 

 life and limb), should not be associated together or with 

 any birds which are breeding ; for, like our English 

 Ch'affinch and Brambling, they are inveterate robbers of 

 eggs. As a rule, it is better not to keep British and 

 foreign birds in the same aviary ; but Siskins, Gold- 

 finches, Linnets, Bullfinches, and Reed-Bantings may 

 safely be associated with the more sturdy of the small 

 foreign Finches, as also most of the British Chats and 

 Warblers. Of the larger British birds the Song Thrush 

 and Redwing are the safest, and I have kept them for 

 two years in succession with Blue Robins. Cardinals of 

 any species, Parrots, and the larger Parrakeets are best 

 kept separate, and for breeding purposes one pair only 

 can be safely put into an aviary. 



In addition to the penny nest-bags sold to Canary 

 "breeders, foreign birds should be supplied with plenty 

 of hay, coarse willow-fibre, roots, wood-moss, and soft 

 feathers ; the moss can be obtained in any damp wood 

 or can be purchased from a florist, and the willow- 

 fibre is generally sold at fancy repositories for filling 

 fire-grates. 



CHAPTER II. 



THRUSHES (TurcUdgs). 



This family of birds includes not only the typical 

 Thrushes (Turdincf) which are represented by our Mis- 

 sel Thrush, Song Thrush, Redwing, FieldfaVe, Black- 

 bird, Ring Ouzel, the Chats, Robins, and Nightingales, 

 but also the Warblers (Syli'iince), and Hedge Accentors 

 {Accentor ince). It thus covers most of the best 



European songsters, and some of the most charming of 

 imported cagebirds. 



The true Thrushes should be fed upon a good in- 

 sectivorous focd mixed with stale household bread- 

 crumbs and slightly damped, also small fruits, insects of 

 various kinds in all stages, centipedes, spiders and 

 worms ; in feeding Nightingales and the more delicate 

 Warblers the breadcrumbs should be omitted, a little 

 powdered biscuit being preferable, unless already con- 

 tained in the food ; and before going any further I 

 would insist emphatically upon the necessity for both 

 ants' eggs and yolk of egg in all insectivorous mixtures 

 until an ingredient as nutritious as egg has been dis- 

 covered as a substitute for it ; even then, unless the 

 birds themselves showed a preference for this hitherto 

 undiscovered article, I would recommend owners of 

 birds to consider their captives' taste in this matter, for 

 we know that yolk of egg is a favourite food of many 

 birds both British and foreign, and that not a f:w 

 seek the raw material in the nests of other birds, thus 

 proving it to be a natural focd. Many of the Warblers 

 and other small Thrushes seem uncertain in their liking 

 for fruit, but most (if not all) insectivorous birds ^occa- 

 sionally swallow seed whole ; I have not seen a Night- 

 ingale or a Warbler do this, that I can remember, but 

 true Thrushes, Robins, Chats, and especially Accentors 

 eat seed freelv at times. 



The typical'Thrushes appear to have been more freely 

 imported into Germany than into England, possibly be- 

 cause song, apart from plumage, has in the past ap- 

 pealed more to Teutons than Britons ; there is no doubt 

 that all who take pleasure in our British Thrushes 

 should find those of the New World and the Far East 

 equally interesting. As I have pointed out elsewhere, 

 the males of these birds are larger than the females, 

 with narrower skulls and longer and more slender 

 bills. 



True Thrushes (Turdince). 



AMERICAN WOOD THRUSH (Turdus mustelinus.) 

 Upper surface grey-yellowish brown to cinnamon, 

 middle of head more ruddy ; lores white ; sides of head 

 streaked with white ; rump olive-greenish ; flights and 

 wing-coverts brown with dull rust-yellow outer mar- 

 gins"; under wing-coverts white; tail feathers greyish 

 brown with olive-greenish wash and narrow dull yellow 

 outer margins ; body below white marked with triangular 

 or rounded blackish spots; chin pure white; sides of 

 throat towards chin with a dark spotted moustachial 

 stripe ; breast washed with dull yellow ; abdomen and 

 under tail-coverts pure white; bill dark brown, _ the 

 base and inner margin of under mandible yellowish ; 

 eyes brown ; feet yellow. 



Female noticeably smaller than male, according to 

 Dr. Baird, yellower on underparts. Inhabits North 

 America. 



In its wild life this Thrush is said to prefer wooded 

 lowlands in the vicinity of water, and, although some- 

 what shy of human habitations, it has been met with 

 not far from buildings, in gardens and groves. It is a 

 migratory bird, appearing in the States from the end 

 of April to the middle of May, the males probably 

 arriving first. The return migration is said to take 

 place in September. It is much confined to dense 

 scrub, its presence therein being indicated by its re- 

 sounding flute-like cries e-o-lie or hallolih, tuniu-tu-ku, 

 and the sharp tack or tucketucketucketuck, which is pro- 

 bably an alarm-call. It sings high up in the top or 

 on a projecting branch of a tree, and its performance 

 has received the highest praise. It is eaid to be 

 characterised by fulness, variety, and purity of its 



