Читать книгу The Natural History of Cage Birds - Bechstein Johann Matthäus - Страница 5

It is very necessary to procure for house birds food which is like, or at least which nearly resembles, what they would procure for themselves in their wild state. This is rather difficult, and sometimes almost impossible, for where can we find in our climate the seeds on which the Indian birds feed in their own country? Our only resource then is to endeavour, with judgment, to accustom these birds to that food which necessity obliges us to give them. There are some birds, such as chaffinches, bullfinches, thrushes, and the Bohemian chatterer, which are so manageable in this respect, that as soon as they are brought into the house they eat without hesitation anything that is given to them; but others, which are more delicate, will absolutely eat nothing, either through disgust of their new food, or despair at the loss of their liberty; with these great precaution is necessary. Dr. Meyer, of Offenbach, writes to me on this subject as follows: “The following is the best method of accustoming newly-taken birds to their change of food, a thing which is often very difficult to accomplish with some species. After having put the bird in the cage it must be left quiet for some hours, without disturbing it at all; it must then be taken and plunged into fresh water, and immediately replaced in the cage. At first it will appear faint and exhausted, but it will soon recover, arrange its feathers, become quite lively, and will be sure to eat whatever is given to it. It is a well known fact that bathing gives an appetite to birds, for the same reason that it does to men.”

If, as an exception, one of these delicate birds, among which are most of the songsters, eats with eagerness as soon as it is brought into the house, it is a sign of death, for it seems like an indifference which is not natural, and which is always the consequence of disease. Those birds which retire into a corner, moping for some hours, are the most likely to live; it is only requisite to leave them alone, and by degrees they recover from their sullenness.

In order to give some general rules for the best food for house birds, I have divided them into four classes: —

The first comprehends those birds which live only on seeds, such as canaries, goldfinches, and siskins.

The second are those which feed on both seeds and insects, such as quails, larks, chaffinches, and bullfinches; some of these also eat berries and the buds of trees.

The third are those which seek only berries and insects, such as nightingales, red-breasts, thrushes, and fauvettes.

The fourth are those which eat insects only, such as wagtails, wheatears, stonechats, and blue-breasts.

The species in this last class are the most difficult to preserve; but most of them, having nothing particular in their song, offer no compensation for the trouble and care which they require; but the following is the best method for success. After having collected the flies, which in spring may often be seen in great numbers on the windows of old buildings, they must be dried, and preserved in a jar. When live insects can no longer be found, these flies must be mixed with the paste, hereafter described, which may be regarded as a general or universal food, and given to the most delicate birds, such as nightingales, provided ants’ eggs or meal worms are now and then mixed with it.

Recipe for the general food. – In proportion to the number of birds, white bread enough must be baked to last for three months. When it is well baked, and stale, it must be put again into the oven, and left there until cold. It is then fit to be pounded in a mortar, and will keep several months without becoming bad. Every day a teaspoonful for each bird is taken of this meal, on which is poured three times as much cold, or lukewarm, but not boiling, milk. If the meal be good, a firm paste will be formed, which must be chopped very small on a board. This paste, which is very nourishing, may be kept a long time without becoming sour or sticky; on the contrary, it is always dry and brittle. As soon as a delicate bird is brought in, some flies or chopped worms should be mixed with the paste, which will attract it to eat. It will soon be accustomed to this food, which will keep it in life and health.

Experience teaches me that a mixture of crushed canary, hemp, and rape-seed, is the favourite food of canaries; goldfinches and siskins prefer poppy-seed, and sometimes a little crushed hemp-seed; linnets and bullfinches like the rape-seed alone. It is better to soak it for the young chaffinches, bullfinches, and others; in order to do this, as much rape-seed as is wanted should be put into a jar, covered with water, and placed in a moderate heat, in winter near the fire, in summer in the sun. If this is done in the morning, after feeding the birds, the soaked seed will do for the next morning. All of them ought to have green food besides, as chickweed, cabbage leaves, lettuce, endive, and water-cresses. Sand should be put in the bottom of the cages, for it seems necessary for digestion7.

Amongst those of the second class, the quails like cheese and the crumbs of bread; the lark barley-meal, with cabbage, chopped cress, poppy-seed mixed with bread crumbs, and in winter, oats; the chaffinches, rape-seed, and sometimes in summer a little crushed hemp-seed. Too much hemp-seed, however, is hurtful to birds, and should only be given as a delicacy now and then, for when they eat too much of it they become asthmatic, blind, and generally die of consumption. Yellowhammers like the same food as the larks, without the vegetables; the tits like hemp-seed, pine-seed, bacon, meat, suet, bread, walnuts, almonds, and filberts.

The birds of the first class are easily preserved in the house, at least if not taken during the pairing season, for then the loss of their liberty affects them so much that they become sullen, and die of hunger.

Although the notice of a universal remedy is generally rather suspected, I cannot refrain from here recommending one or two sorts of paste which I have always used, and which agreed so well with all my birds, excepting those which I keep in cages on account of their beautiful songs, that it may justly be termed general or universal food: it is not only very simple and cheap, but also prevents great loss of time to those who possess a great many birds.

The universal paste. – To make the first paste, take a white loaf which is well baked and stale, put it into fresh water, and leave it there until quite soaked through, then squeeze out the water and pour boiled milk over the loaf8, adding about two thirds of barley-meal with the bran well sifted out, or, what is still better, wheat-meal; but, as this is dearer, it may be done without.

For the second paste, grate a carrot very nicely (this root may be kept a whole year if buried in sand), then soak a small white loaf in fresh water, press the water out, and put it and the grated carrot into an earthen pan, add two handfuls of barley or wheat meal, and mix the whole well together with a pestle.

These pastes should be made fresh every morning, as they soon become sour, particularly the first, and consequently hurtful. For this purpose I have a feeding-trough, round which there is room enough for half my birds. It is better to have it made of earthenware, stone, or delft ware, rather than wood, as being more easily cleaned, and not so likely to cause the food to become sour.

The first paste agrees so well with all my birds, which are not more than thirty or forty, at liberty in the room, that they are always healthy, and preserve their feathers, so that they have no appearance of being prisoners. Those which live only on seeds, or only on insects, eat this food with equal avidity; and chaffinches, linnets, goldfinches, siskins, canaries, fauvettes, red-breasts, all species of larks, quails, yellowhammers, buntings, blue-breasts, and redstarts may be seen eating out of the same dish.

Sometimes, as a delicacy, they may be given a little hemp, poppy, and rape-seed, crumbs of bread, and ants’ eggs. One of these is necessary for the birds of the third and fourth class.

Every morning fresh water must be given to the birds, both for drinking and bathing. When a great many are left at liberty, one dish will do for them all, about eight inches long and two in depth and width, divided into several partitions, by which means they are prevented from plunging entirely into the water, and in consequence making the place always dirty and damp9. A vessel of the same size and shape will do for holding the universal paste, but then it must have no partitions. Quails and larks require sand, which does for them instead of water for bathing.

Some birds swallow directly whatever is thrown to them: great care must be taken to avoid giving them anything with pepper on it, or bad meat. This must be a general rule. I shall also remark, that food sufficient for one day only must be given to birds kept in cages, for they are accustomed to scatter it about, picking out the best, and leaving only the worst for the next morning; this makes them pine, and puts, them out of humour.

Mr. Sweet’s food for soft-billed birds (sylviadæ). – The birds of this sort, though the finest songsters and most interesting of all the feathered tribe, have been less known or noticed than others, probably owing to the greater number only visiting us in summer, when the trees are so densely clothed with foliage that birds are not easily seen, and when heard sing are generally considered by those who hear them to be either blackbirds or thrushes, or some of the more common singing birds. When they are seen the greater number of them receive the general appellation of white-throat, without distinction, though this is rather singular, since they are all very distinct when examined, and their songs are all very different. If you speak to a bird-fancier or bird-catcher about any of them, you might as well talk of a bird in the wilds of America, for they know nothing of them. Many of them are therefore difficult to be procured in the neighbourhood of London, though most of them are plentiful there.

With care, the whole of them may be preserved in good health through the year, and many of them will sing through the greater part of the winter if properly managed. They require to be kept warm; the room in which they are should never be allowed to be below temperate, or they will suffer from it, particularly the tender sorts; at first the cold will make them lose their sight, after which they seldom recover. The redstart and nightingale are most subject to this; it sometimes also happens to the fauvette, and also to the whinchat.

When in a wild state, the birds of this sort feed principally on insects or fruit, and berries of various kinds. None of them are seed birds, so that they must be managed accordingly. The general food which I give them is hemp-seed, bruised up in boiling water, as small as it can be made; I then put to this about the same quantity, or rather more of bread, on which is also poured boiling water, and then the whole is bruised up together into a moist paste, particular care being required that there be very little or no salt in the bread; for should there be rather much it will kill the whole of the birds. The food should also be mixed up fresh every morning, as it soon spoils and turns sour, in which case the birds will not touch it, and sometimes it will make them go off their food altogether. When given to the birds, some fresh, raw, lean meat ought to be cut up small enough for them to swallow, and mixed with it I generally put about the same quantity of meat as paste, and sometimes they will peck out the meat and leave the paste; at other times they will eat the paste and leave the meat; but in general they eat it all up together, particularly where several different species are kept together in the same large cage, a plan which I consider by far the best, as they amuse each other, and keep one another warm in cold weather. Besides the above food, an egg should be boiled very hard, the yolk taken out and crumbled or cut in small pieces for them; the white they will not eat. One egg I consider enough for twenty birds for one day, with their other food, it being only intended as a change of diet, which they will not continue well in health without.

The sorts, which feed on insects when wild, should have some of these preserved for them through the winter, except where they can be procured at all seasons. At a baker’s shop, for instance, there are always plenty of meal-worms, crickets, and cockroaches, of which most of these birds are very fond: when those are not to be procured, a good substitute is the large white grubs that produce the cockchafers, which in some years are very plentiful, and may be kept in pots of turfy earth through the winter, as may also the maggots of the bluebottle fly, if procured late in the autumn; and they may be generally had as late as December. A quantity of these, kept in a pot of turfy earth in a cellar, or any other cool place, where they may not turn into flies too soon, is, I think, one of the best sorts of insects, and easiest kept and procured, for such birds through the winter. They will not touch them until they are well cleaned in the mould, but are then very fond of them, and a few every day keeps them in excellent health, and provokes them to sing.

Hon. and Rev. W. Herbert’s food for soft-billed birds. – Milk, which Mr. Sweet recommends, I have found very fatal to many of the soft-billed birds, and I never give it; but the blackcaps do not seem to suffer from it. They are very fond of a boiled carrot mashed and moistened, or beet-root boiled and mashed. A boiled carrot will keep fresh many days, in a basin of cold water, and is an excellent substitute for fruit in feeding them. Boiled cabbage, cauliflower, green peas are good for them; all sorts of puddings; a very little roast meat minced, I give them every day, and a little yolk of egg when it suits, but it is not necessary. The standard food is hemp-seed ground in a coffee-mill, and bread crumbs scalded and mashed up together, and fresh every day. They are very fond of ripe pears and elderberries (but elderberries stain the cage very much), currants, cherries, honeysuckle, and privet-berries.

Professor Rennie says, “I have more than once given the blackcap and other birds a little milk by way of medicine when they appeared drooping or sickly, and with manifest advantage10.”