. British birds for cages and aviaries; a hanbook relating to all British birds which may be kept in confinement .. . thing in the world to do; singing away in the intervalsbetween his meals as if he had not a care, but was per-fectly happy and contented. And when it is added that aRedpoll so chained has been known to pair with a femaleof his ow^n species that flew freely about the room, itwill probably be conceded that he had not much to com-plain about, as she made her nest close to him and hecould hop on to the edge of it and peep at the little light 132 BRITISH BIRDS blue speckled eggs, wh
. British birds for cages and aviaries; a hanbook relating to all British birds which may be kept in confinement .. . thing in the world to do; singing away in the intervalsbetween his meals as if he had not a care, but was per-fectly happy and contented. And when it is added that aRedpoll so chained has been known to pair with a femaleof his ow^n species that flew freely about the room, itwill probably be conceded that he had not much to com-plain about, as she made her nest close to him and hecould hop on to the edge of it and peep at the little light 132 BRITISH BIRDS blue speckled eggs, when he had a mind to do so, as wellas lend a helping hand—that is to say beak—to feed thetwo little ones that made their appearance in due Redpolls have nested and reared young ones inan ordinary Canary breeding-cage, and yet others wouldhave done so in a garden aviary where they were keptwith many other birds, had not some mice interfered andsucked the poor little couples eggs as fast as they werelaid in the cosy nest the hen had built in a euonymusbush growing against the wall of the ^5 The Common or Lesser Redpolt Grass and other seeds are the natural food of thisspecies, but it also feeds on aphides and small flies whenit can get them ; it does not, however, carry them to theyoung in its bill after the manner of a Sparrow, butswallows them first to regurgitate them afterw^ards with theother food when engaged in feeding the little ones. Theaphis that infests the rose is an especial delicacy with theRedpoll, but let the aviarist beware of the purplish-blackspecies that is found on the lilac, and more particularlyon the laburnum, both of which are poisonous. The aphides,however, that are found in such abundance on the undersideof the leaves of the black poplar and the linden or lime FOR CAGES AND A VIARIES. 133 tree, may be given, as they have no unwholesome birds, however, will do very well without anyaddition of insects to their die
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectcag
