232 THE RED-BREAST 



In order the better to enjoy their pretty song, they are provided with a 

 cage generally resembling that of the nightingale. 



FOOD. When wild the red-breast feeds on all sorts of insects, which 

 are pursued with great skill and agility; sometimes this bird is eeen 

 fluttering like a butterfly round a leaf on which is a fly, or if he sees an 

 earth-worm he hops forward flapping his wings, and seizes it. In autumn 

 he eats different sorts of berries. 



In confinement, by giving him at first some earth or meal worms, and 

 in the autumn elderberries, he soon gets accustomed to eat anything : he 

 picks up crumbs of bread, the little fibres of meat, and the like, but cheese 

 appears his favourite food. When hopping about the bird-room he likes 

 the universal paste very much *. He chiefly requires a regular supply of 

 fresh water, both for drinking and bathing ; and he makes himself so wet 

 as to conceal the colours of his plumage. 



BREEDING. The red-breast lays twice a year. The nest, placed near 

 the ground, either among moss, in the crevices of stones, among the roots 

 of a tree, or in the hole of an old felled trunk, is carelessly formed of 

 moss, lined with fine hay, hair, and feathers. She lays from four to six 

 eegs, of a yellowish white, with lines and spots joined and mixed together 

 of a reddish colour ; the colours become deeper as the spots approach the 

 large end, where they form a crown of a light brown colour. The young 

 birds are at first covered with yellow down, like chickens, they then 

 become grey, and their feathers are edged with dusky yellow ; they do not 

 acquire the orange red till they have moulted. They are easily reared on 

 white bread soaked in boiled milk. When their cage is placed beside a 

 nightingale they acquire some parts of his song, which, introduced into 

 their own, make a very pretty mixture. 



DISEASES. Their most common disorder is diarrhoea, for which some 

 spiders are administered. Decline is often cured with plenty of ants' eggs 

 and meal-worms ; but indigestion often proves fatal, especially when it 

 arises from having eaten too many earth-worms. It may, however, be 

 cured by making the bird swallow spiders and meal-worms. 



MODE OF TAKING. In spring, when the red-breasts frequent the hedges 

 and bushes, sticks are passed transversely through them, on which limed 

 twigs are fastened, then two persons gently beat the hedge or bush to 

 drive the birds towards the twigs, where they are soon caught, for red. 

 breasts have the habit of perching on all the little low projecting branches, 

 in order that they may discover earth-worms. This sort of red-breast 

 chase is very common in Thuringia, where many persons keep them. 

 Limed twigs may also be put in a bare place with earth or meal-worms, 

 just as for the dunnock. The small nightingale net and the white-throat 

 trap catch many. They are also caught at the water trap ; but the 

 greatest number are caught in autumn with the noose, baited with elder- 

 berries, which are at that season their favourite food. If they are caught 



* I have seen some in cages which were entirely fed on white bread which was 

 soaked in hot milk left to get cold, and they were very healthy. If, however, 

 we would feed them well, they require nearly the same diet as the nightingale. 

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