S3


cage-door and offer him some little tit-bit, he flies out on to my hand for it.

Sometimes he will fly gracefully all round the room, and finally settle on

the top of my head. Then he fairly delights to walk all over my body and

examine me thoroughly; looks down my neck, up my sleeve or into my

pocket; tries to steal my ring or watch-chain, until I get tired of him and

put him into his cage—lie won’t go himself. He loves to take his bath in a

large bowl on the table, and doesn’t he make the water fly ! but the worst

part of it is, that as soon as he is thoroughly saturated, he makes for my

shoulder and gives himself a good hearty shake, the surplus water running

freely down my neck; but I know his little ways, now, and prepare

accordingly, by turning my coat-collar up.


A gentleman writing to me the other day said, he would like a

Starling, but he had been told “ they were such dirty birds,” so he had

changed his mind. Well, all I can say is that anyone calling a Starling a

■“dirty” bird doesn’t know what he is writing about; aud the person who

keeps a Starling dirty, is either lazy, or ignorant of the management of

cage-birds. Insectivorous birds are, I admit, a little more trouble than

seed-eaters; but then, if the bird is not worth a little attention, it is not

worth keeping: such is my opinion. My bird’s cage is cleaned out two or

three times a-week, and is never in a “mess; ” it is of the box kind, with

moveable wire front, 2ft. 6in. by ift. by ift. Sin. in size, with china troughs

for food and water hung outside.


I find that a mixture of fine sand and rice-husks, in equal parts,

makes by far the nicest and most cleanly dressing for the moveable

drawer - bottom. For all soft-bills, sawdust or garden - mould is very

objectionable from many points of view. For food, I give a mixture of my

own making, the receipt of which I published in the Feathered World some

time ago; for those who don’t care about making their own, I can strongly

recommend Abrahams’ Insectivorous Food as first-class.


In conclusion, let me advise all who are in want of an intelligent,

comical, and highly amusing pet (not to mention his great beauty), to try a

hand-reared Starling, and I think they will not regret it.



BRITISH BIRDS WE HAVE KEPT


VI.


THE WRYNECK.


By Arthur G. Butter, Ph.D.


The Wryneck (lynx torquillaJ is a summer visitor to Great Britain,

and is almost exclusively insectivorous ; its favourite food consists of ants’

cocoons, and consequently it is frequently seen on the ground, generally on

an ant-hill. When feeding, it crouches close to the earth, and its long

glutinous tongue darts in and out so rapidly that its food seems to

disappear down its throat as if magnetically attracted : when the cocoons

are scarce, this bird by no means despises living ants, of which it devours

great numbers.


This species frequents orchards, gardens, enclosed fields, parks and

plantations; it breeds in holes, usually in trees, but it makes no proper

nest, but deposits its pure white eggs, which vary in number from five to

twelve, upon the decayed wood or rubbish at the bottom of the hole:

when the latter is shallow, the eggs may sometimes be seen from the

opening; when fresh they are very pretty objects, with the ros}-' glow of

the yolk showing through the shell.


On the ground, or when moving up a tree, the Wryneck progresses

by long hops ; its feet are adapted for climbing, with two toes in front

and two behind, and although the tail feathers are not stiff like those of a

Woodpecker, I observed that my birds always used them to assist in

climbing, contrary to the statements of some ornithologists.



