Further Notes o?i the Grey-winged Ouzel. 313


On June 14th the first nestling must have hatched, as the

Ouzel began to break up worms and carry them up to the nest,

but it is evident that one or more hatched on the 15th, when I

found a half-shell on the floor of the aviary. From this date my

labours began ; we had a long spell of hot dry weather and I

had to keep up a constant supply of earthworms, beetle-larvae,

cockroaches, or any other insects I could get.* I had no

preserved yolk of egg, and the hard-boiled egg in the soft food

which I supply to these birds every morning was all picked out

and carried to the young as soon as the pan was placed in the

aviary ; it was no use for me to say “ I cannot dig, to beg I am

ashamed,” I had to do both : I dug up worms in every bare

patch, and I begged worms of my neighbours ; I was determined

that this year I would not lose two out of three of my young

birds for the lack of worms.


In the past I have worked hard when hand-rearing birds,

tumbling out of bed at 6 a.m. to feed, and attending to them

every hour until 8 or 9 p.m. ; but fora man of sixty-two summers

to have to dig, and dig deep, at all hours of the day in hot

weather in order to rear three young hybrid Blackbirds is indeed

penal servitude.


I did not hear much of the young birds until June 22nd,

when they were distinctly audible when fed. The note in the

nest is quite dissimilar from the call for food after they have

flown ; it is a sort of rattling trill, whereas the hungry youngster

calling its parents cries—“ chick er”


On the 29th three young birds left the nest ; whether the

violent storm and heavy rain of the previous night hurried them

I cannot say, but at any rate all three were well-feathered and

very like young Thrushes in appearance. So far as I could

guess, and I did guess again although I was wrong last year, I

thought they looked like one cock and two hens; I hope it will

be the other way round.


The cock Grey-winged Ouzel would take worms from my

fingers (I don’t like handling them, but one has to get

accustomed even to picking up spiders and cockroaches when



A lot of living ants’ eggs (large female cocoons) which I found one day were eaten by

the cock bird ; lie took none to the young.



