76 Suinc Notes of My Birds. 



required in India for a really tame and trained singing Shama 

 will often be more than we pay for a bird from a dealer in this 

 country. 



This being the case, would it not be possible for those 

 l>ird lovers here who have breeding aviaries to concentrate on 

 producing and stabilising this bird instead of giving so much 

 thought and time to the breeding and rearing of birds like the 

 Budgerigar? Surely the Shama is a more pleasing production 

 than yellow and blue budgerigars. I appreciate the great diffi- 

 culty of obtaining hen Shamas; but if a number of people were 

 determined to obtain these birds they could easily enough be goi 

 over. It has always appeared to me that there must be a 

 financial reason either here or in India which accounted for the 

 scarcity of the females. It is not a rare bird in India; it accli- 

 matises very quickly and is healthy and easy to keep. With ;i 

 number of young hand-reared Shamas in this country at first 

 hand w-ith people willing to spend time and patience on their 

 education the whole question as to which is ciie world's greatest 

 songbird would quickly be answered. I would guarantee that :i 

 nestling Shama kept wholly in the company of the most perfect 

 singing Nightingale would in course of time sing that very same 

 song, not for a few brief periods of the year, but for the whole 

 season. What would add greater charm, too. perhaps to the 

 song when rendered in our homes would be the fact that it would 

 l3e toned down, for the Shama is no " shrill shouter of song." 

 Tf we wished it, how easily too we might add to such a song say 

 that of the Blackcap, the Woodlark or the Barred Warbler. 



Some Notes of My Birds. 



By Margaret Burgess. F.Z.S. 



UvAEAN Parrakeets (N ytjipliicus iti'occnsis) : In 



September 1921 I see I was asked how I fed my Uvaean Parra- 

 keet. It was not a newly imported specimen when it came 

 into my possession. This bird has never ailed with me, and. 

 except at moulting time, is always a picture of glossy plumage 

 and perfect health. It is fed on all kinds of seeds — canarv. 



