clock and interspersed with squeaks, squirt-like hissings and a

few clear notes.


I have not found this Weaver particularly aggressive,

whilst it is undoubtedly a hardy and usually long-lived bird •

bright, attractive, and amusing. It is a little smaller than its

Abyssinian relative.



THE FOOD OF THE BLACKCAP.


By E. G. B. Meade-Waedo.


In countries where the Blackcap is the most frequent cage

bird, and where nearly every other peasant’s cottage has one or

two hanging up on the wall, the food given is almost entirely

fruit. These birds live for years and years in the most perfect

health, if not plumage, and sing to perfection.


They are kept in fair sized cages, made of nothing but

split cane. The bottom is of the same material, but in hot

weather (or rather when the sun is on them, for it is always hot)

a large leaf or two are placed on the roof of the cage. The

principal food used is ripe figs, these are squashed on to the out¬

side of the bars and the birds pick what they want from inside;

oranges are also given, and bananas, custard apples, and all kinds

of fresh fruit, also dried figs which are moistened with water

before being plastered on. No animal food is ever given, but

I have seen the birds watching the fruit when it begins to

ferment, and catching quantities of flies and moths which are

attracted by the juice. I knew several of these caged examples

for five years: they were always thriving and almost always in

song, and their owners told me that they had had them for years

before I saw them, and I have no reason to disbelieve it.


These birds are out of doors day and night, all the

year round. I have kept many myself and found them quite

hardy. They breed freely in a large aviary, rearing the young,,

first upon caterpillars, etc., afterwards upon fruit. The sexes

must be separated, except when breeding, or the powerful

females will drive the males to death. This separation of the

sexes is observable in a wild state, the females wintering quite

apart from the males, and usually at a far higher elevation above

the sea level. To show on what unnatural food a bird will live

and thrive I must quote a Blackcap, (one of the curious variety

known as Heineken’s Blackcap in which the ashen-grey of the

body in the ordinary form is replaced by olive brown, and the



