22 
BEARING AND TAMING OF WILD BIRDS 
these can be kept easily, feeding them on fruit, bananas, 
berries, maggots, and minced meat once a week. Too 
much meat makes the birds pugnacious and scraggy in 
plumage. 
Doves make good pets, but many folk object to them as 
they are not very active and spend most of the day preening 
themselves. As objects of beauty, however, I think it would 
be bard to beat the pretty green-spotted dove, Chalcoyelia 
chalcos'pilos, or the white- breasted dove, T. tymyanistria. The 
former has a note somewhat like T. semitorquatus, but much 
softer and more plaintive. 
For colour, the long-tailed roller, Coracias caudatus , is an 
excellent bird, so also are plantain- eaters and glossy starilngs. 
They are all easily kept. 
All the birds mentioned so far are perching birds; to 
complete the runs one must have some ground birds, and one 
cannot do better than to procure a few Quail. Coturnix 
Delagorguei, a common species in the Kavirondo country, 
does splendidly. Those I have had for over a year have 
nested and laid several eggs, but owing to the crowded 
condition of the runs they did not sit. 
A good bird of a different build and appearance is the little 
black crake, Limnocorax niger. These become tame in a very 
short while, and will readily feed from the hand. The drawback 
to keeping them is that one must have plenty of water, running 
if possible, and plenty of cover, such as long grass. With these 
the feeding is more complicated, but I found they did quite 
well on minced raw meat, boiled maize flour to which raw meat 
juice had been added, and maggots. The food was taken best 
if put in at the head of the stream and allowed to drift down 
with the flow of the water. 
Francolins do well, but one really requires a large run to 
do them justice. They are best reared from eggs hatched 
under fowls or young birds in their first season. Adults do 
not tame easily, and, besides damaging themselves, frighten 
any other birds there may be in the run. 
The most amusing bird I have kept is a pelican. It was 
obtained fairly young, just able to fly, and has been in my 
possession for nearly two years. It is fed on three pounds of 
