38 
HINTS ON CAGE-BIKD3. 
abundance of feathers, hay, cow-hair, etc. They will require much 
insect food and plenty of small earthworms when feeding their 
young, and it is said to be a good plan to mix the worms with earth 
and place the whole in a pan, so that the birds may search for them 
as required ; I adopted this plan also when breeding Blue Robins 
(which are Thrushes). 
If you desire to breed any of the Crows, a small aviary with 
plenty of rough cover — such as a large pile of bare branches, and 
perhaps a few upright bushes partly screening the latter in front — 
should be devoted to each pair, and abundance of animal food, such 
as worms, grubs, insects, nestling Sparrows, mice, shrews, etc., 
supplied as soon as the hatching time approaches. For building 
the nests, twigs thick and thin, roots, bark, bast, hay, grass-weeds 
with the earth on, feathei’s, wool, and cow-hair would all be useful. 
For Larks, Pipits, and Wagtails you should have a rough sloping 
bank, partly clothed with grass, or a bit of rough wall with hollows 
and niches, partly screened by light bushes. The young would 
require plenty of insect food. 
Cocoa-nut Husk. 
For the smaller game-birds, such as the Quails, a good patch of 
growing grass is almost indispensible, if you wish to ensure success ; 
it is due to the lack of this that I have hitherto never got beyond 
nest and eggs with either the Californian or the Chinese Quail. 
For breeding the larger Parrots, you would require an aviary 
quite as strongly built as the cages used for monkeys at the Zoo ; 
thick branches might be fixed over one end, and small barrels, with 
a good-sized hole cut in one end by the use of a large centre-bit, 
placed here and there among the branches. With plenty of boiled 
maize, banana, nuts, and biscuit yon might perhaps be successful. 
Some of these birds have been bred. 
The Parrakeets with less powerful beaks, such as the Rosella 
group, the Ringnecks, Cockatiel, etc., will breed in ordinary 
aviaries, either in large log nests or in boxes specially prepared, as 
described and illustrated by Mr. Seth-Smith in The Feathered 
World for 13th October, 1899. (See opposite pa ye ) . 
