180 Mr. Hubert D. Astuey,


The Hermit has the same length of shank, and the same

carriage. It is curious that these beautiful little Thrushes have

scarcely ever been imported to England in days when such

importation was permitted, for they can be captured in fair

numbers on the autumnal migration.


As a single cage pet I can really imagine no bird more

charming in every way. They are very steady in a cage and do

not knock their tail-feathers about as is so often the case with

Nightingales.


The call-note of this species is a pretty low “chuck.” The

male is perhaps slightly longer than the female, but it is

extremely difficult to distinguish the sexes apart.


My Hermits feed on an insectivorous mixture, a very

excellent one supplied by Mr. Galloway, of Caversham, but like

all insectivorous birds, fresh insect food is necessary for their

welfare ; not many mealworms, but cockroaches, gentles, flies,

spiders, wood lice, etc., and also fruit. They are very fond of

grapes, skinned, and cut into very small pieces, which can be

mixed with their every day food.


One of my Hermits most unfortunately had a wing'

broken : it was one of the outdoor aviary birds. Something had

probably chased him, and the wing was perhaps knocked during

flight against a bough. I brought him into the house and for

some days tried in vain to support the broken member by tying,

it up. I passed some soft knitting-wool round his body in front

of the legs, underneath the uninjured wing at the back of the

shoulder and over the broken one, tying the ends of the wool

firmly together. The little Thrush was quite undismayed under

such treatment, and hopped back into his cage when I loosed

him from my hand at the door of it ; he took up his position on a

perch and looked at me very deliberately. I went out of the

room to return in five minutes. The strand of wool was lying in

the sand, and the little Hermit was sitting on his perch with his

drooping wing, looking at me as if he were Maskelyne or Cook,

ready to make his bow after having been firmly tied up with

ropes before his audience, and having stepped out free again ! I

tried him again with silken thread, but again he picked it off,

shook out his ruffled feathers and remained unshaken himself.



