54


I cannot believe that Tuis or any other birds could be kept a long

time on mashed potatoes and sugar without becoming ansemic, as potatoes

contain so little nitrogen, but plenty of carbon ; even biscuit or bread

soaked on milk as the staple food would not give them sufficient nitrogen ;

therefore I prefer to use the above-mentioned cheese-food, which contains

plenty of nitrogen, is very easily digested, and will not produce too much.


fat.


R. Maschke.



Sir, — Some time since I had a little talk with Mr. Abrahams on this

subject, and he told me that his experience of the Tui-ljird and other

honey-eaters was that they could not be kept for any length of time either

on honey or condensed milk.


At the same time it was a great mistake to suddenly remove the food

upon which any bird had been imported and give it that which was suitable

as a permanency: this change must be effected gradually: thus, if Tui-

birds reached him which had been fed on condensed milk, he gradually

added his insectivorous food and potatoes or breadcrumbs until he had

accustomed them to the drier food, when he gave no more of the sweet

laxative mess, and got the birds into a healthy condition.


In the case of Tanagers, of which I have two species, — the vSuperb

and the Scarlet, — oranges are the favourite food in a wild state ; yet during

the winter, when oranges are visually more or less acid, I find that my

Scarlet Tanagers will not touch them, but eat my soft food mixture greedily,

and make up with banana ; the vSuperb Tanager eats a little soft food,

always beginning upon the yolk of egg, a little orange and a good deal of

banana. As regards condition, I think all who have seen my birds will

admit that they are fit to compete at any show — a trial to which I shall not

subject them.


My Zoslemps, which I have had for some years, prefers grapes or apple

to orange during the winter-time, but feeds chiefly upon soft food at this

season and is in the pink of condition. My mixture consists of stale bread,

potato, egg, ants' cocoons and Abrahams' food.


I find that Tanagers prefer cockroaches to mealworms, but they

sometimes accept the latter.


A. G. BuTi,ER.



Sir, — In response to your request for information as to " Food for

soft-billed birds " I am glad to give you the following particulars of the

manner in which my own birds are fed.


For the staple food which is supplied to the aviaries, and the less

delicate of the British and foreign "soft-bills," I take equal parts, in bulk,

of the finest ants' cocoons procurable, '• dried flies," Osborne biscuits ground

to powder, and Spratts' fine-ground crissel : this mixture keeps indefinitely.

Each morning a portion of this is taken, and made up to double its bulk by

the addition of breadcrumbs, hard-boiled e^g, and boiled potatoes ; or bread-

crumbs, egg, and grated raw carrot. The coarser birds, such as Thrushes,

Blackbirds, Shamas, and the like, would thrive perfectly upon a larger

proportion of bread and potato, while the more delicate ones are better

with less bread. I may anticipate enquiries by stating that I get the " drie

flies" from Maggs Bros., of Swansea, at i/- per lb. The ants' cocoons ar



