FEEDING FANTAILS.

Forest and Bird, Issue 42, 1 November 1936, Page 13

FEEDING FANTAILS.

Master Frank Chambers, of Opunake, writes to the Society about feeding fantails, which are not usually amenable to artificial feeding because they catch their prey on the wing. “On our farm we have two patches of bush where a number of fantails obtain sufficient food to exist upon. One day, while I was digging in the garden, a fantail came and settled on a fence close by. Perhaps, with the idea of getting a spell from the digging operations, what proved to be a good scheme occurred to me. I ran up to the house and collected a number of flies, which I killed and offered to Fanny, but she would not eat them. Quickly I secured some live flies which were released and promptly captured by my guest. In a few days’ time, after training the bird in this manner, it began to eat dead flies or spiders.

“Over at Grannie’s, in the camelia bushes, there are quite a number of fantails, which I

feed by running along the path with a fly or a spider in my hand. The insect is thrown up in the air at the right moment, and along comes a fantail like a flash and seizes the prey. Then back it goes to the same perch every time ready for my next run.”