The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1879-12-31
Rearing Wild Birds,

1 found it essential to success in rear
ing birds from the nest to watch the
parent bird and find what food it select.
ed for it's young. That of all the fnches,
sparrows and wrens was naked-skinned
worms and grasshoppers. The indigo
finch, which I at first failed to rear, ]
found was fed solely with white grass.
hoppers Il. e., with grasshoppers which
had just molted), after which I found
it very easy to raise, and that it proved
to be very excellent cage-bird. 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 fnches and
sparrows would take to seed eating as
soon as they left the nest aid their bills
were hardened. Wrens, under my OBJ
servation. fed their young almost exclu-
sively with small, smooth larvm, taken
from the undersides of the leaves of cur
rant bushes, brambles, etc., and I have
set for a long time and counted the
worms brought to nest, the average
being five worms in two minutes. This
was q 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 a
very interesting cage-bird. The common
rice-bird or bobolink was very easily
raised, fed on young grasshoppers, took
to eating seed readily, became as tame
and playful as kitten, and when full
grown was liable to become excessively
fat, and would then often have epileptio
fits, recurring at frequent intervals,
death always following. The cat bird
was an inveterate mimic. attempting to
do and sing whatever it saw or heard
done by the other birds in it's compart-
ment of the cage. The wren was a
thorough busybody and studious OF
nature, investigating with very know.
ing and inquiring look every corner and
crevice of the cage and every act of its
associates. A pair of blue birds kept
themselves inviolate from all the other
birds, and were models and full of lover
likeattentions to each other. They select
ed place where the pair could perch
themselves closely together, and spent a
large part of their time in attention to
each other. The nuthatch, when full
grown, delighted to find grain of In
dian corn, which it would push into any
crack or crevice where it would fit close
ly, and then would amuse itself by ham,
mering away at it until it was broken
into fragments suitable forts food. The
COW bird was an inveterate gormandizer.
It could not be fed enough to stop it's
clamor for more, and often SO fully
crammed was it that the last worm or
grasshopper stuck in its throat; but it
would still beg for more, as if starving:
Taking the offered food and finding itself
unable to swallow it, it would throw it
away with sudden jerk Of the head,
but still ask for more. Anything in the
shape of animal food that it could swal-
low was gobbled down; and this affecta-
ton OF starvation, and it's large size,
sufficiently explain the dwarfng Of
the other occupants of the nest in
which it is foster child. It would eat
or waste all that any two birds could
gather.-Science NeaOs.