EUROPEAN THRUSHES. 23 



FOOD. My readers will perceive that I recom- 

 mend meal and milk as a staple diet for all 

 Thrushes, and what is called soft-billed birds; 

 that is, all birds that require soft food. It is be- 

 cause experience has taught me, that it is prefer- 

 able to any other food which can be given. 

 Bread and milk, and crackers and milk, is the 

 common food of those birds in England, but it is 

 too purgative for birds, as a constant diet. Last 

 summer I had a Black Bird brought to me, which 

 had been four or five weeks imported, and had 

 been fed on bread and milk. It really looked 

 miserable; he was dirty, and his plumage was 

 matted and wet; the cage also was wet, although 

 the person who brought it had taken pretty 

 good care of the bird, and regularly cleaned the 

 cage. I immediately commenced feeding him 

 upon meal and milk. The first day he ate very 

 sparingly of it, and threw a considerable part of 

 it out of the cage ; the next day he ate a little 

 more, and threw none of it out; the third day 

 he ate heartily of it, and in three or four days 

 he looked better, and was probably in better 

 health than ever he had been. I had him 

 about three months in my possession, and when 

 he left it there never was a prettier Black Bird 

 in a cage, and he was in full song. His meal 



