THE BLtTEBREAST. 401 



Food. In a wild state the Bluebreast feeds on aquatic 

 insects, worms of different species, the caterpillars of the cab- 

 bage moth, and, occasionally, on elderberries. 



A fresh-caught bird, if designed to range the room, may be 

 accustomed to the universal paste by mixing with it a few ants' 

 eggs or meal and earth worms ; nor will it continue in health 

 unless the mixed diet be persevered in. When confined in a 

 cage, it should be fed on Nightingale's food, on which it will 

 live for six or eight years. It is very greedy, consuming 

 every day its own weight of the paste, and voiding its excre- 

 ment at every third or fourth step. It requires a daily supply 

 of fresh water for drinking and bathing, in which it makes 

 itself as wet as the Eedbreast. I have noticed also that it in- 

 variably bathes in the afternoon. 



Diseases. Diarrhoea and decline are the diseases to which 

 this bird is most subject. They may be cured by the treat- 

 ment indicated in the Introduction. 



Mode of Taking. It is a generally received, but erroneous, 

 opinion that the Bluebreast is a very rare bird, and is not to 

 be seen in Germany more than once in five or -ten years. I 

 find this idea to be prevalent in Thuringia, although, since 

 I called the attention of my friends to the time of the 

 bird's migration, they are able to catch as many as they 

 please. All that is necessary is to watch the banks of streams 

 and canals, especially if near a wood, from the 1st to the 20th 

 of April, when the snow is on the ground, and the weather is 

 windy and inclement. If a spot be cleared from snow, and set 

 with limed twigs, baited with meal or earth worms, the bird 

 may be easily driven to it, and will take the bait greedily. It 

 may also be taken in the Tit trap, or Nightingale's net, if set 

 in a spot to which it is observed to resort. In autumn it can 

 often be caught by setting limed twigs, baited with meal worms, 

 among the cabbages. At the same season it is also occasionally 

 taken in the water trap. 



Attractive Qualities. The tameness, cheerful disposition, 

 beauty of plumage, and excellence of song, which recommend 

 this bird to the amateur, have procured for it in Thuringia 

 the name of the Italian or East Indian Nightingale. It 

 runs with great rapidity, often elevates and spreads out its 

 tail, shakes its wings continually, and calls Feed, feed ! Tack, 

 tack ! It is to be regretted that it loses much of its beauty 



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