Food. 43 



cleansed from both coffee and bird seed, by grinding 

 in it a little stale bread or rice before and after the 

 bird seed is ground ; the seed may also be prepared 

 by pounding. A sort of paste (which I will describe 

 hereafter) is also a good standard food for the warbler 

 class, and for all birds which live on insects and 

 berries, including, that is, Nightingales, Blackcaps, 

 Thrushes, Wrens, Redpoles, &c., with the various 

 Finches and Linnets. For these former birds, how- 

 ever, I always should be inclined, if possible, to omit 

 the milk at any rate, boiled milk. Mr. Herbert, who 

 seenis to have tried many different plans, and to have 

 been one of the most successful managers of these 

 especially delightful songsters, never approved of giving 

 it. The freshly- ground hemp seeds contain, in reality, 

 a milky sort of juice, and a grated carrot also is suffi- 

 cient to sweeten the mass a little. 



Bechstein's authority is certainly very weighty, but 

 it should be remembered that his birds were really 

 room birds (Stubenvogel), not cage birds, and that 

 allowance must be made for the constant exercise that 

 this gave scope for, as well as for the greater coldness 

 of the German weather, and throughout his work it is 

 evident that but few of his birds comparatively were 

 kept at all in cages. 



3. For the warbler, or soft-billed class, the admix- 

 ture of dried flies, ants' eggs, or pounded hard-boiled 

 egg, is extremely useful ; and in many instances, the 



