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Maurice Arrester—Diet for Rearing Young Birds


As 1 proposed saying something about the feeding of birds in this

article, I may perhaps mention that these Thrushes and also the

American Robin (Tardus migratorius ) do not require a large quantity

of mealworms in rearing young. Two or three dozen should be given daily

for the first three days, after which the quantity may be gradually

reduced, their place being taken by small earthworms. The latter

are best supplied in a large shallow box containing plenty of damp moss.

The worms live indefinitely, and the parent birds have a continuous

food supply. Gentles I have already mentioned and advocated in the

Magazine. I have used millions in my time with no untoward result,

but they must be properly scoured, preferably in meal or flour, until

they have lost their central black line. Cockroaches or blackbeetles are,

I know, said to “ scour ” the young birds. My experience is that the

parents only use the smaller insects, and the results have always satisfied

me. Lastly there is raw meat; my last brood of Orange-headed Ground

Thrushes, reared in 191-1, were fed very largely on it, and left the nest

very fit and strong and were fully reared. ' I think a good deal depends

on its preparation. My method was to pass the meat through a mincer,

together with stale bread ; the mixture is then quite crumbly, and does

not seem to disgust the birds like a mass of pure meat. The parent

birds in question had been in my possession for some three years, and

it is possible that their long captivity had caused them to forget the

aversion, which we all know, to feeding with anything but live food.


The above points may appear a trifle laboured, but mealworms are

at the present costing Is. per ounce. Given liberally a pair of feeding

Thrushes could dispose of an ounce daily, and a good deal more when the

youngsters were half-grown. I tremble to think what my bill would

have been at the present price wdien I had young of Occipital Blue Pies

and Yucatan Jays ! The price of “ soft food ” at 2s. 6d. to 3s. 6 d. a

pound also “gives us to think”. 1 have completely given up buying the

made-up article, and find that biscuit-meal (preferably grocer’s biscuits)

mixed with a small quantity of minced cooked meat suits the larger

insectivorous birds perfectly well. To this may be added twice weekly

as a treat some well-crushed hard-boiled eggs. In addition to this all

my birds get a daily ration of the Lorikeets’ food mentioned below,

and I think it is to this that their fitness is partly due.



