THE SHAMA 13 



for the chicks and the parents. A regular 

 supply of mealworms and cock-roaches 

 should be kept up at this time. The meal- 

 worms need not be cut up into pieces. The 

 Capacious throat of the young- bird can 

 receive whole cock-roaches without the least 

 danger of suffocation. In India we hand- 

 rear captive nestlings with satoo made into 

 soft paste with water, and a few grasshop- 

 pers. It is interesting to note how the 

 parent-birds try to keep the fact of its nest 

 a secret. In your presence it will never go 

 straight to its nest but will make a show of 

 stopping at different places before finally 

 entering it. The Shama is very careful about 

 sanitation, and the male may often be seen 

 carrying the excreta, and dropping them at 

 places far from the nest. When the young 

 are considered able to fly, the mother-bird 

 gives them a preliminary course of training 

 by supporting them from beneath, after 

 shoving them off a perch. As soon as the 

 aviary-bred nesthngs 'attain their adult 

 plumage, the question iUaturally arises as to 



