ORDER PASSERES. 531 



assiduity, that we are assured that eight days are sufficient for 

 the finishing of the work. When it is finished, the female de- 

 posits in it from four to five eggs, of a bhiish-green, with 

 rusty-coloured spots, frequent, and not very distinct. She 

 hatches them with so much ardour, that she sometimes suffers 

 herself to be caught with the hand on the nest. The male 

 provides for her subsistence, and, contrary to the supposition 

 of Montbeillard, is observed to share sometimes the business 

 of incubation. M. Vieillot has seen them on the nest from 

 eleven in the morning, to two or three in the afternoon. Na- 

 turally distrustful, these birds often abandon their eggs, or 

 eat them, if they happen to be touched, and they will even 

 serve their young ones so in a similar case, when they are first 

 ejected from the egg. The father and mother find them 

 earth-worms, caterpillars, larvse, and all kinds of insects. The 

 moment these birds can do without the parent, they follow 

 their natural impulse ; each becomes isolated, and unites to its 

 former aliment all kinds of berries and fruits. 



These birds are sought after, and brought up in captivity 

 for their song, and more especially for their power of improv- 

 ing it, of retaining the airs which they are taught, and imitat- 

 ing those which they hear. Those who are desirous of bringing 

 them up should take them in the nest, when they are feathered, 

 and feed them at first with a liquid paste, composed of steeped 

 bread, yolk of egg, and bruised hempseed, and afterwards 

 with sheep's-heart, minced meat, crumbs of bread, and dif- 

 ferent fruits and berries. They must not be shut up with 

 other birds, for, naturally uneasy and petulant, they will 

 pursue and torment them continually, unless in very large 

 aviaries, filled with shrubs and bushes. In this way, indeed, 

 they may have the pleasure of making their own nests, and 

 bringing up their young, if they are provided with a sufficient 

 quantity of the proper aliment. To succeed completely, it is 

 necessary to abstain from approaching the brood while the 

 little ones are not entirely fledged, for otherwise the old ones 

 will either abandon or devour them. 



