CAGE AND SlNOlNa ^JiitDls. 
berries and insects, sucli as nightingales, thrushes, redbreasts, 
black-caps, and most of the species commonly included in the 
genus SylviUy the warblers, to which Sweet has paid especial 
attention. He recommends that a general food for these 
tender and delicate songsters shall be prepared thus : — Hemp 
seed soaked in boiling water and bruised small, mixed with 
about an equal proportion of scalded bread, and made up into 
a moist paste, care being taken that there is no salt in the 
bread ; this should be mixed fresh every morning, and when 
given to the birds, should have put with it a little raw lean 
meat, which they will sometimes eat by itself, rejecting the 
paste y at other times they will take the paste alone, being- 
somewhat capricious in their tastes and appetites, which must 
be humoured. As a change of diet, yolk of egg shou'.d 
occasionally be given, boiled hard, and crumbled sma'l ; one 
egg will be found sufficient for twenty birds for a single 
day, that is, with the other food. 
In the Jmirtli class are placed those birds which feed 
upon insects only, that is, from choice, and generally 
speaking a little fruity other soft substances they also 
sometimes eat as a change, or when their lavourite food 
cannot be procured; these are the wngtails, the chats, 
and some of the warblers, and for these snails, worms, 
crickets, cockroaches, &c., should be obtained; a bake- 
house is a good preserve for this sort of game ; the 
maggots of the blow-fly, and the white grub of the cock* 
chafer, are much relished by these birds; they should be 
procured late in the autumn, and put into pots of turfy 
mould, and placed in a cellar or other cool situation ; they 
should be cleaned from the dirt when given to the birds, 
which are also very fond of ants' eggs ; of these a good supply 
may be obtained at the proper season from any ant-hill, and 
kept in earth for occasional use. 
Here are Bechstem's directions for procuring a good supply 
of 
ants' eggs. 
A fine breezy day in summer is chosen ; and, provided with 
a shovel, we begin by uncovering a nest of the large wood 
ants (Formica rufus), till we arrive at the eggs ; these are 
then taken away and placed in the sun, in the middle of 
