Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1879-05-14
Rearing wild Birds.

/ found il essential to success in rear
parent bird and find what food 1t select
Ell for its young. That of ali the finches,
sparrows and wrens was naked-skinned
. worms and grasshoppers. The indigo
finch, which | at first failed to rear,
found was fed solely with white grass
hoppers ii. e., with grasshoppers which
had Just molted), after which l found
it very easy to raise, and that it proved
TO be very excellent cage-bira. All
the birds fed readily upon small grass
hoppers and large-sized worms, and in
every case died after being fully grown,
from my inability TO make the proper
change in their food. The finches and
sparrows would take to seed-eating as
soon as they left the nest and their bills
were hardened. Wrens, under my OBJ
servation, fed their young almost exclu
sively with small, smooth larve, taken
from the undersides of the leaves of cur
rant bushes, brambles. etc., and have
set for long time and counted the
worms brought to a nest, the average
being five worms in two minutes. This
was a nest of the common house wren,
when the supply of food was abundant
in neighbOring row of currant bushes.
These also were easily reared in the nest.
All the young birds took naturally to
water when fully grown, except the
ground or grass finch, which would
bathe only in fine sand, but would keep
itself in excellent condition and was
very Interesting cage-bird. The COM
mon rice-bird or bobolink was very cas-
lily raised, fed on young grasshoppers,
took 10 eating seed readily, became as
tame and playful as kitten, and when
full grown was liable to become excess
lively fat, and would then often have
epileptic fits, recurring at frequent in
tervals, death always following. Tue
cat bird was an inveterate mimic, at
tempting to do and sing whatever it
saw or heard done by the other birds
in its compartment of the cage. The
wren was thorough busybody and
studious of nature, investigating with
a very knowing and inquiring look
every corner and crevice of the cage
and every act of its associates. A pair
of blue birds kept themselves inyiolate
from all the other birds, and were mod
els and full of lover-like attentions 10
each other. They selected place
where the pair could perch themselves
closely together, and spent large part
of their time in attention to each other.
The nuthatch, when full grown, de-
lighted to find grain of Indian corn.
which it would push into any crack or
crevIce where it would tit closely, and
then would amuse itself by hammering
away at il until il was broken into frag-
ments suitable for its food. Tht COW
bird was an inveterate gormandizer.
Ii could not be fed enough to stop Its
clamOr for more, and often so fully
crammed was il that the last worm or
grasshopper stuck in its throat; but it
would still be for more, as if starving.
Taking the offered food and finding it
self unable to swallow it, it would
throw it away with a sudden jerk of
the head, but still ask for more. Any
thing in the shape of animal food that
il could swallow was gobbled down;
and this affectation of starvation, and
its large size, sufficiently explain the
dwsrfing of the other occupants of the
nest in which it is foster child. 1t
would eat or waste all that any two
birds could gather.