A. Ezra—Further Notes on the White-fronted Bee-eater 191



flying about in Captain Stokes’ aviary. I rang up Gamage’s at once and

secured the remaining three birds. These were turned out in one of my

small aviaries, and it was a treat to see them chase flies and eat them.

They lived practically on mealworms and, of course, caught every

bee and wasp that flew into the aviary and swallowed it. Practically

the whole of their first winter they ate only mealworms and these

had to be thrown up to them, as they never came to the food tray.

They were marvellous at catching mealworms, and no matter how

difficult the catch, it was never missed. They were fed in this way all

the winter months, and kept in the heated part of the aviary. They

were given six good feeds of mealworms a day, and on the tray with

the insectivorous food a few mealworms were always left. For the

whole winter the birds were not seen on the food tray, so the other

occupants of the aviary must have made short work of the mealworms.

So the whole of their first winter these birds lived only on mealworms.

In the spring they were in robust health, and gradually took to visiting

the food tray, when they did not only eat the mealworms but helped

themselves to some of the insectivorous mixture. All the summer

months a piece of meat was left hanging in the outer flight of the aviary

to attract flies and blue-bottles, and these were quickly devoured by the

Bee-eaters. I lost one of the three birds after about eighteen months,

and the second one lived for four years, when he died of pneumonia.

The third and last one lived in perfect health and plumage till last

March, when he was killed by some other bird in the aviary. All the

birds in the aviary were old ones, and they had lived amicably for

years—I .don’t know till this day who killed this delightful pet. The

other occupants of the aviary were a pair of Fairy Bluebirds, a pair

of Amethyst Starlings, a pair of Rufous-bellied Niltavas, and a pair

of White-cheeked Bulbuls. I rather suspect the Bulbuls, although

they always seemed friendly enough. I have never regretted the loss

of a bird more and I am sure a Bee-eater has never been kept in captivity

for so long. From June, 1926 to March, 1933—nearly seven years.


Needless to say they were great favourites of mine and no birds

gave me greater pleasure. Bee-eaters do splendidly in large aviaries,

and look lovely when flying about after insects. They are quite easy

to keep provided they are given a lot of mealworms and a warm shelter



