82 collector's' manual 



large quarters, as they may be injured when the crate is shifted. 

 In the lands where they are acquired you will doubtless be told 

 something of the feeding habits of the various species, but some 

 people, even natives, often seem to know a lot of things about 

 animals that are not so. In the East Indies where rice is the 

 main article of human diet, the natives have a tendency to feed 

 everything else as they do themselves. So, be careful that they 

 do not persuade you to keep a flesh eater on rice. 



Animals like to eat what is good for them, and if given a 

 variety of foods will select their own diet. Great quantities of 

 concentrated sweets such as candies or jams are detrimental. 



Very young mammals require milk. Diluted tinned milk is 

 usually satisfactory. Small species of cats require milk when 

 young, and should be weaned on raw meat — chicken, beef, or 

 other flesh. Monkeys eat as humans do, but most of them require 

 very little meat. Heavy-billed birds require seeds or small grain. 

 Others, including birds of paradise, will eat insects (cockroaches 

 are obtainable even on shipboard), chopped meat, and fruits or 

 vegetables. Eggs, either raw or cooked, are relished by many 

 creatures. 



Aboard ship all the variety of foods necessary to maintain al- 

 most any animal or bird may be found. Carnivorous mammals 

 or birds can be fed with scrap meat from the galley, preferably 

 raw; vegetarian species may be supplied the same way from scrap 

 vegetables, and the seed eaters with various dry cereals. Return- 

 ing home aboard ship from many collecting trips, we have found 

 that boiled rice, ripe bananas, and sweet potatoes raw or cooked, 

 are good staples for many vegetarian species. 



Specimens intended for the National Zoo may be forwarded 



