240 Mr. R. Phiixipps,


tendency to bill-splitting. The consumption was not caused by

want of nourishment, but by my slowness to realize that the}'

needed so much protection from cold, especially in the spring of

the year, and by my letting them out too much in the cold

weather.


I must be pardoned for pursuing the subject of green food

for supposed purely insectivorous species, when in captivity, a

little further.


How many of you are aware that our Common Cuckoo, at

any rate the real thing, without a feather broken, flying loose in

aviary and birdroom, is very keen after gree7i food ? In olden

days, during the winter, I used to grow green food in gardeners'

' striking ' pans ; and I certainly was surprised to find that the

most eager bird to visit these pans was the Cuckoo. Its great

delight was the head of the sprouting pea when an inch or two

above ground, — these were immediately singled out and devoured

by the Cuckoos. In the spring, I planted peas in the garden

especially for them ; and on a warm day when they were let out

there were two special attractions, a ray of sun and the sprouting

peas. Now these Cuckoos were for the most part loose, and free

to feed upon what they liked. But here a caution : — although,

as has frequently been remarked, the bird loose in the aviary can

often eat even frosted green food with impunity, green food

given to the same bird while in a cage may cause its death from

peritonitis.


The adult wild Cuckoo, as a rule, is a difficult bird to

watch, so one must not be too positive ; but I have no recollec-

tion of ever having seen anything that would lead one to suppose

that it eats green food, and I fancy that no one has yet suggested

that it does. Assuming, therefore, that the wild bird does not

touch green food, how are we to account for the aviary bird

taking to it of its own free will ? I suppose that if the bird has

been fairly well kept, and no mealworm or other • drug ' habit

set up, some wonderful instinct impels it to devour alien foods

that will correct the evil results of unnatural diet or treatment,

just as the captive dog, cat, and lion takes an occasional dose of


grass.


I remember reading somewhere — and surely there is





