190 GARDEN AND AVIARY BIRDS. 



size may be given, as well as millet and canary seed as 

 a treat. For birds smaller than a Mynah the small 

 seeds will form the staple food, but such larger grains 

 as they are found able to eat may also be given as a 

 change. Thus, even the little Munias can husk paddy, 

 and Canaries will appreciate a few oats. 



Fruit-eating birds can be fed on plantain and other 

 fruits, varied with bread-and-milk sop, boiled rice and 

 vegetables, and satoo (gram-flour) made up into a crumbly 

 paste with water. As they are gross feeders and apt to 

 get too fat, the more of their natural fruit diet they get 

 the better they will live. Insect-eating birds, if smaller 

 than a Mynah, should be fed on satoo worked up into a 

 crumbly paste with ghee and hard-boiled eggs. These 

 small species require live insects constantly, and there 

 is a class of professional maggot-breeders and grasshopper- 

 catchers in Calcutta who live by feeding Shamas for 

 their owners. 



Insect-eating birds of a Mynah's size or larger can 

 be fed on scraps from the table cut up, much as one would 

 feed a dog ; or they may be given a standing dish of boiled- 

 rice mixed with chopped raw meat, or satoo worked 

 into a crumbly paste with this. Cockroaches and 

 crickets will be suitable insects to give these ; and Jays, 

 Magpies, etc., need dead mice and young Sparrows 

 as often as these can be procured. Shrimps are very 

 good for all insectivorous birds large enough to eat them. 



As a matter of fact, many insectivorous birds also eat 

 and need fruit, Starlings and Thrushes for instance ; 

 and these are naturally by far the easiest to keep. The 



