M. Amsler—Recently Imported Bluebirds



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I have been through the mill with the breeding of Bluebirds and

the experience I have gained is, for what it is worth, welcome to breeders

who may be interested.


When the young leave the nest, whether the parents have reared in

a closed aviary or at semi-liberty, always catch up the whole family

and place them for a time in a large cage with no nest-box. Bluebirds

use very little soft food in rearing their young, so an unlimited supply

of insects must be given. Mealworms, of course ; also cockroaches if

you can get a supply ; live ants 5 eggs in summer, and a very few clean

gentles.


Live ants 5 eggs together with some ants are a great incentive to the

young to feed themselves ; they notice an ant carrying the white egg

along and have a peck at it. At first they miss but practice makes

perfect and the next step is a mealworm. Finally mealworms killed

by pinching the head and chopped into three or four pieces can be

dropped into the soft food. As soon as this last course is recognized

and eaten, the old birds can be removed to their own aviary where they

should go to nest again if the season is not too far advanced.


1 have found that a period of almost exactly ten days elapses

between either the removal of eggs or of young, and the laying of the

next clutch.


When well on to food the young are of course best housed in an

aviary or large flight; but here a final word of warning : Beware of

mealworms! I well remember my best season's success. I had twelve

very fine young Bluebirds reared from one pair, the first eight had been

brought up by redbreasts and the remaining four by their own parents

at complete liberty, that is the Bluebirds had built and reared the

young in a nest-box hung up in my Eton garden. The young were

all together in a fair sized aviary of mixed inhabitants but to my great

chagrin I noticed that all was not well, that the youngsters did not

take much interest in their soft food, but were frantic in their scrambles

for mealworms, of which a large number were thrown down at frequent

intervals each day. They had, moreover, a look which every observant

bird-keeper knows. The eye, which in this genus is especially large,

intelligent, and staring, becomes smaller and duller without being

closed. To cut a long story short I had the mortification of seeing my



