British Wagtails in Cage a?id Aviary.



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BRITISH WAGTAILS IN CAGE AND AVIARY.


By Arthur G. Butuer, Ph.D., F.L.S., etc.


Of all the British Insectivorous birds suitable for avicul¬

ture, none are more satisfactory in almost every respect than the

Wagtails. Graceful, lively, easily tamed, and by no means

difficult to feed, they only have three faults: they are inclined to

be pugnacious if two cocks are kept together; they are some¬

times spiteful to weaker associates; and their song, which is

sweet and pleasing, is not frequently heard.


As regards their food, one must give them that which

experience proves to be suitable, without regard to the criticisms

of prophets of evil. Some years ago, when dried flies began to

be generally recognized as an excellent food for insectivorous

birds, the late Dr. Bradburn violently opposed the use of them,

under the impression that these insects were a species of blow¬

fly bred from putrid fish ; and, although I assured him that they

were Hemipterous insects closely related to the water-boatmen

of our ponds, he w r ould not be convinced, but declared emphati¬

cally that he knew they were actual flies because he had seen

their wings (I suppose he imagined that water bugs were destitute

of these organs).


Somewhat later a writer in the “Feathered World” insisted

upon the absolute uselessness of dried ants’ cocoons as a food for

birds : living ants’ cocoons he thought might be of some value ;

but when dead he considered them w'orse than useless : I imagine

that he looked upon them as the decayed corpses of insects

which had died a natural death.


Subsequently there was a great stir made respecting the

dangerous character of bread-crumbs as a food for insectivorous

birds ; one of our members considering it most deadly to all the

more delicate Warblers (meaning such birds as warbled) : a long

discussion ensued which convinced nobody.


Yet more recently, and for the second time, egg in all its

forms has been condemned as a most dangerous food, on the

ground that it is a favourite food of the bacillus of enteritis ; and,

provided that a bird nourished upon this food be in a sickly

condition, it renders him much more likely to be attacked by



