5 2



will at first refuse anything so hard as raw apple, and for these

there is nothing better than stewed apple well sweetened, or

banana mashed up in orange juice. In the summer, green food

may be given. Dates and dried figs form a useful addition to

the dietary. The dates may be given as bought, but the figs

should be stewed and afterwards mashed. Canary seed may be

supplied, and will be occasionally eaten by some of the Lorikeets.

All these birds resent a sudden change of food, and any one

acquiring one of them should ascertain how it has been fed, and

supply it at first with its accustomed food however unsuitable it

may be, until he can persuade it to take to the diet here

recommended. Lorikeets will often eat nothing but canary seed,

when they have been fed upon it for a long time. (I believe that

“ Blue Mountain Lories” are almost always so fed on the voyage

from Australia). On the other hand, some Lories will refuse all

solid food, and have to be fed at first on sop made so liquid as to

be little more than boiled milk, and orange juice.


V.—FRUIT- AND PO ELEN-EATING BIRDS OTHER THAN

PARROTS.


This group includes (besides others) the Tanagers, Bulbuls,

Honey-eaters, Sugar-birds, and some of the British Warblers

(such as the Blackcap). All these birds require some good

insectivorous food as a staple diet, and a regular and liberal

supply of fruit. I propose considering the question of insec-

tivorus food under the next heading. The fruit used may be

either apple, pear, banana, or orange. Some birds will like one

kind best and some another—but apples are not suitable for the

weak-billed species, unless they are very soft. Milk sop is a

useful addition to the food of these birds, but it should be given

with caution and discretion. All of them will eat it greedily,

and there is a danger, if they be freely supplied with it, that they

will eat it to the neglect of other food. It is undoubtedly^ some¬

what relaxing, and on the whole I should advise its being given

not oftener than every other day, and then not more of it than

will be eaten up within five or six hours. The sop should be

made with boiled milk, be fairly stiff, and no sugar should be

added. I attach a good deal of importance to the sop being

unsweete?ied, because the addition of sugar adds considerably to

its relaxing qualities. I am not a believer in mealworms for

birds of this sort, though a few do no harm to the larger species.

Little things like Zosterops are, I fancy, better without meal¬

worms, except perhaps when moulting.



