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Dr. A. G. Butler,



as the Larks and Wagtails, in which the wild song seems to be

instinctive.


By constantly hearing music superior to its own, we know

that the poor little melody of the Bullfinch (when brought up from

the nest) can be replaced by recognizable tunes and the chirping and

chattering of the House-Sparrow can be replaced by a softer

reproduction of the notes of a Norwich Canary. Untaught Black¬

balls and Thrushes utter a few loud notes which are neither

pleasing nor in the least melodious ; but if given half a chance they

are liable, while still young, to pick up anything in the shape of a

song : thus I once had a hand-reared Song-Thrush which had

learned to sing from a Canary and made such a terrific noise that an

inn-keeper who had heard of it came to inspect it, and willingly

paid rather a high price to become the possessor of it. It proved a

disappointment however, for it ceased to sing when hung up in a

public bar.


Like most beginners I started my experiments with those

birds most easy to obtain and also most easily reared—the Song-

Thrush, Blackbird and Starling : at first I fed these with a mixture

of what is popularly called fig-dust (oat-flour) and pea-meal, given

very wet until the birds were old enough to drink, and afterwards

made up into the consistency of dough and rolled up into small

sausage-shaped pellets. Later, I discovered that greater success

attended my efforts when I gave scalded Spratt’s poultry-meal

mixed with pea-meal ; but these coarse feeders rarely fail one;

indeed I have heard of Blackbirds which had been successfully

brought up upon sopped bread alone, though I should doubt their

having strong constitutions after such poor fare. Nowadays, even

for these birds I should provide far more expensive and nutritious

diet, for I believe in nourishing food for children of all kinds.


I got no opportunity to hand-rear Missel Thrushes until

1886, when I found a nest containing a young pair : these I reared

easily on the pea-meal and flg-dust mixture with scalded snails cut

up and small worms ; they were strong and handsome birds of

which I gave away the hen but kept the cock for show purposes, but

the first show I sent it to (when it was nearly four years old) it was

fed upon minced raw beef mixed with breadcrumbs (instead of the



