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in a cool place till required. You add to each daily allowance of

egg one spoonful of best ants' eggs, wliicli should be well worked,

in amongst the egg food, to put, as it were, a coating of yolk on

the outside of each ; if this be not done the bird will simply toss

the ants' eggs away ; and I find, even under the most favourable

conditions, they eat very few ants' eggs, but I continue to give

them my daily allowance — one spoonful each per day.


In addition to the above diet they require a good supply of

mealworms. I give the birds at least thirty per day each, which

I cut in two before giving them. I never make a practice of

letting the birds take mealworms from my fingers, as it is an

unnatural process, and birds must be starved to do so, and once

brought so low they never regain stamina again, but sit on the

perches and mope, waiting for some one to give them another

worm. Of course the above does not refer to hand-reared

specimens. If any one were to offer my birds a mealworm from

his fingers they would simply ignore it, and yet they will sit

and sing their wild full song while I am feeding them, of

course during the singing season.


About the middle of Ma}' the captive Nightingale gets

somewhat off-colour, and remains so till he gets well through the

moult, which generally commences about the first week in July;

then is the time to give them a good supply of spiders and

insects, such as earwigs, flies, etc. — nothing comes wrong in the

insect line.


From the middle of June to the end of August fresh ants'

eggs are very plentiful. I generally run out in the country on

my bike at least once a week, and take a small tin and spoon, and

collect a few, which help them over the moult wonderfully, and

by the middle of August they have their new plumage, and

rare and well they look, and by their action in the cage they

appear to feel very proud of it.



ON AN UNCOMMON TANAGER IN CAPTIVITY.


By Percy W. Farmborough, F.Z.S.


Some two years before we were married, my wife received,

as a present from a friend in South America, several birds, and

among the number were three Tanagers. Of these two died

about a month after their arrival in this country, but the

remaining one soon adapted itself to a change of residence, and,

in fact, survived until two or three weeks ago. During the three

years that it lived in England it was one of the most engaging



