362



Dr. L. Lovell-Keays,



pause over this momentous question for a few moments. Reedlings

if kept properly have only one real enemy, as far as my experience

goes, and that is pneumonia. They are by no means as “ hard as

nails ” at any period of their captivity. Cold damp weather always

takes a toll of one’s reedlings, so I keep mine shut up on bad days

especially in the winter. Their diet consists simply of the best

Insectile mixture properly prepared with an admixture of finely

divided Yorkshire cheese. This is prepared by squeezing it through

an ordinary kitchen wire sieve—No. 17 gauge. Cheese seems to

have fallen into desuetude of late. All my birds have it and I

believe it is the finest substitute for live food imaginable. The

Insectile food itself should be moistened with a very small quantity

of boiling water. It should neither be disgustingly pappy nor pro-

vokingly chaffy. If you will put yourself in the birds’ place for one

moment you will appreciate the fact that you would not care for

stodgy suet pudding or (if still moister) macerated pap, neither

would you care for crumbled macaroon or bread a week old at the

other extreme. Then my reedlings have mealworms, according to

the state of their owner’s exchequer, gentles, and real live ants’ eggs.

The latter are of course of the very utmost value, but ants’ eggs of

the best quality are very difficult to get. The ordinary garden ants’

eggs are too small so one must get wood ants.


We left our reedlings with six eggs, as a clutch, in a nest

built by both parents, but perhaps more by the cock than the hen.

Incubation is also shared by both birds to a degree that varies with

every pair of birds. In some the cock does nearly all the incubating

and the hen practically only night duty. In others the cock does

very little and only relieves when the hen goes a ’foraging. In the

latter case he seems very anxious she should get back to her

domestic duties as soon as possible and scolds his wife most

vehemently. The cock never, as far as my observations go, feeds

the hen on the nest. I don’t think the cock ever incubates at night

time. The incubation period is between ten and eleven days, some¬

times one and sometimes the other. The chicks when first hatched

are naked repulsive creatures and very soon acquire a look of morti¬

fication — a kind of shiny black writhing mass. No, baby reedlings

are not beautiful with their squat serpent-like heads, bulging eyes,



