Occupants of an Aviary. 99 



probably hardly one in twenty of the old birds caught, 

 that do. 



I have had myself hardly any of this class, but 

 having reared a few which came to grief by tumbling 

 out of nests, till old enough to fly, I know that 

 bread crumbs are generally the readiest food to give 

 them. I prefer giving it dry or very nearly so, or 

 beaten up with a little hemp-seed, or, still better, 

 with a few drops of cold milk, an egg boiled hard 

 and chopped extremely fine, yolk and white together, 

 is also very good for them. 



When they are once reared, German paste and 

 stale bread- crumbs are the best staple foods for 

 them ; they like a great deal of water, and ought 

 to have a very well sheltered cage, and a branch of a 

 rose-tree covered with green fly is a most dainty feast. 



Only one Nightingale ought to be kept at a time, 

 as two will not often sing. It is very difficult to 

 manage a Nightingale well, especially in an aviary 

 which cannot be moved about. Some will sing in 

 the light only, and others insist on shade; some 

 cannot bear a noise to disturb them, and others sing 

 the louder, warbling high above all the other notes. 



Nightingales, too, require ants' eggs or insects to 

 keep them in good song, and this is always a very 

 great difficulty for a bird indoors. 



All the warblers require a great deal of sand and 

 water. Their food is best placed in shallow china 



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