on the Silver-eared Mesia.



37



later some live wasp-grubs, were everything in the way of insect

life I was able to obtain. Only quite small cockroaches were

eaten, for Mesias seem to have but little idea of breaking up food ;

and, as is so often the case, they would not carry the tiny ones.

They had, moreover, the curious habit of nipping and killing

usually every cockroach and mealworm supplied, though not

otherwise touching them. After a while, both for themselves

and the young bird, they preferred the larger wasp-grubs, not

touching the small ones which looked too much like gentles ; and

artificial food they would not touch except occasionally some

biscuit water-sop. I notice, too, how inferior the young Mesia’s

powers of swallowing are compared with, say, a young Shama’s

of the same age. Wasp-grubs are too fattening as a sole food ;

a garden of earwigs, woodlice, ants, etc., would be of priceless

value when such a species as the Mesia has to be reared.


On August 18 there was a great disturbance in my next-

door neighbour’s garden. The Virginia creeper from the house

beyond spread very thickly over his house, and he decided that it

must go. The large stems were sawn through where they

commenced to trespass, the whole mass fell into the garden, and

six men commenced to drag it bodily away. The thick foliage of

my own garden completely sheltered the Mesias—and yet they

deserted their offspring and disappeared. The disturbance was

soon over, and they re-appeared on a perch above my head, the

male kissing the female after his manner. Then he went to the

nest, fed the young one from the crop, and brooded it. In this

instance neither of the birds had been near the food dishes for

several minutes, and yet the male fed from the crop as a matter

of ordinary course. Their mode of doing this was instructive.

The parent would hold its head down for several seconds, with

the mandibles very slightly parted, repeating the operation

several times, regurgitation being sometimes but not always very

marked. I am positive that there was some secretion which ran

out of the crop, or came out from it, and which more or less

lubricated any insect that had been previously swallowed. On

one occasion, while the male was thus feeding, a tiny cockroach

“ came up,” as if by mistake, for he instantly checked himself,

re-swallowed the cockroach, and then again lowered his head.



