18 CLASS AVES. 



• 

 ing of tlieir food, for they ai'e so delicate that the slightest 



excess will destroy them ; no regard should be paid to their 



reiterated demands for food, for they open the bill every 



instant, whether one approaches them or touches the nest. 



To succeed properly with them, the following system should • 



be strictly adhered to. 



They should receive their first bill-full, half an hour after 

 sun-rise, the second an hour after, and so on from hour to 

 hour, until the last, which is towards the setting of the sun. 

 After which they must be refused, although they demand 

 food ; but the last allowance should be a little more than the 

 preceding on account of the night. They should be fed with 

 a small wooden skewer, very smooth, rather slender at the 

 end, and about the breadth of one''s little finger. After 

 three weeks or more, they will eat of themselves, and the 

 males begin to warble; they are then separated, and put 

 into different cages, for these birds are fond of living 

 alone. 



As these birds are very delicate, the attempt to bring 

 them up in the manner we have described is not always suc- 

 cessful ; on which account, if it be possible, they should be 

 tended by the father and mother. These may be easily caught 

 by laying nets near the nest, which nets are furnished with the 

 lava of an insect, which abounds in flour, the meal worm 

 {tenebrio moUtor). As soon as they are taken, they are 

 put with the nest and the young ones into a closet, where 

 very little light is permitted to enter ; three delft pots not 

 very deep are provided for them to eat and drink out of; in 

 one of these is water, in the other sixty or seventy of the 

 above-mentioned worms, and in the third the usual aliment 

 given to them, (which we shall explain by and by,) to which 

 are joined the eggs of ants. It is necessary to familiarize 

 them with their new domicile ; branches covered with leaves 

 should be put into it, and the floor spread with moss ; trees 

 in boxes, evergreens, such as laurels, &c., are still better, as 



