on Hand-Rearing British Birds.



109



of liberty, but I fear that he did not get sufficient living insect food

since he died in May, 1896.


I reared Sand-Martins in 1887 upon Abrahams’ Nightingale

mixture, but after they had acquired the use of their wings they did

not care to take exercise, but simply sat on the food-pot and gorged

themselves to repletion. Of course I ought to have discontinued the

soft food and given them scoured maggots; but this I did not know

at the time, so I lost them all in about three weeks time. In 1891

I tried House Martins and with these I was rather more successful

owing to some extent perhaps to their affectionate nature which im¬

pelled them to leave their food and fly to me at once when I called

them ; unlike most birds they delight to nestle down in one’s hand.

However about two and a half months saw the end of them, to my

very great regret, and I do not recommend any of our members to

attempt to keep these birds, since it is very difficult to supply them

with anything approaching their natural conditions of life : I

should never have taken the nests myself, but when they were brought

to me I felt bound to do my best to save the poor little orphans’

lives.


Finches are of course easy to bring up, at first upon egg and

biscuit made into a paste and later upon scalded seeds and perhaps a

few smooth caterpillars, spiders, green fly, etc., but when reared they

must be kept apart from other birds if you do not wish them to

become insanely wild. I reared nine Linnets in 1888 and in the

previous year I had brought up a nest of four Chaffinches: the

only difficulty with the latter is that as soon as you offer to feed

them, although they open their beaks widely they sway their heads

from side to side and back away from you, so that it requires quick¬

ness and accuracy to get the food into their mouths and not all over

their faces : however I succeeded, and got two pairs of strong and

healthy birds for my pains.


In 1898 a young Jay was given to me ; it had been taken from

the nest shortly before and fed upon shredded raw beef and bread¬

crumbs. I at once changed the diet to a mixture of bread-crumbs,

powdered biscuit, egg and “ Century Food ” (a mixture very similar

to “ Cekto.”) I reared this bird without the least dfficulty, and, as

I have already noted, it lived in perfect health for thirteen years : I



