200 NATURAL HISTORY 



also a hurrying manner, not at all to its advantage : it 

 is notwithstanding a delicate polyglot. 



winter, if properly managed. They require to be kept warm : the room 

 in which they are should never be allowed to be below temperate, or they 

 will suffer from it, particularly the tender sorts; at first, the cold will 

 make them lose their sight, after which they seldom recover. The red- 

 start and nightingale are most subject to this ; it sometimes also happens 

 to the greater pettychaps or garden warbler, and also to the whin chat. 



When in a wild state, the birds of this sort feed principally on insects, 

 or fruit and berries of various kinds. None of them are seed birds, so 

 that they must be managed accordingly. The general food which I give 

 them is hempseed bruised up in boiling water, as small as it can be made. 

 I then put to this about the same quantity, or rather more, of bread, on 

 which is also poured boiling water; and then the whole is bruised up 

 together into a moist paste, particular care being required that there be 

 little or no salt in the bread, for should there be rather much, it will kill 

 the whole of the birds. The food should also be mixed up fresh every 

 morning, as it soon spoils and turns sour, in which case the birds will not 

 touch it, and sometimes it will make them go off their food altogether. 

 When given to the birds, some fresh, raw, lean meat ought to be cut up 

 small enough for them to swallow, and mixed with it. I generally put 

 about the same quantity of meat as paste, and sometimes they will peck 

 out the meat and leave the paste ; at other times they will eat the paste 

 and leave the meat ; but in general they eat it all up together, particu- 

 larly where several different species are kept together in the same large 

 cage ; a plan which I consider by far the best, as they amuse each other, 

 and keep one another warm in cold weather. Besides the above food, an 

 egg should be boiled very hard, the yolk taken out and crumbled or cut 

 in small pieces for them : the white they will not eat. One egg I consi- 

 der enough for twenty birds for one day, with their other food, it being 

 only intended as a change of diet, without which they will not continue 

 well in health. 



Some of the sorts which feed on insects when wild should have some 

 of these preserved for them through the winter, except where they can 

 be procured at all seasons. At a baker's shop, for instance, there are 

 always plenty of mealworms, crickets, and cockroaches, of which most of 

 these birds are very fond. When those are not to be procured, a good 

 substitute is the large white caterpillar that produces the cockchafer, 

 which in some years is very plentiful, and may be kept in pots of turfy 

 earth through the winter ; as may also the maggots of the blue bottle fly, 

 if procured late in autumn ; and they may be generally had as late as 

 December. A quantity of these kept in a pot of turfy earth in a cellar or 

 any other cool place, where they may not turn into flies too soon, is I 

 think one of the best sorts of insects, and easiest kept and procured, for 

 such birds through the winter. They will not touch them until they are 

 well cleaned in the mould, but are then very fond of them, and a few 

 every day keeps them in excellent health, and provokes them to sing. 



The Nightingale, (Philomela. Luscinia, SWAINS.) One of the finest song- 

 sters of the feathered race, generally visiting us, about London, the be- 



