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 grasshop- 

 per-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, &c., 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 



