18 PET BIRDS OF BENGAL 



is replaced by slaty brown and chestnut by 

 rufous. The female birds of Tenasserim are 

 often darker than their Indian cousins. 



The bill of the Shama is slender, com- 

 pressed and black, its legs are of pale 

 flesh-colour, its claws light horn and eyes 

 deepest brown. 



The bal)v Shama is dark brown in its 

 upper parts with reddish edges to wing- 

 coverts; underneath, it is pale rufous with 

 brown mottlings on tlie throat and breast. 

 Its colour, however, varies a good deal. 

 A full-fledged young does not take lons^ to 

 assume full adult plumage. 



The usual length of the Shama is eleven 

 inches, the female being smaller by an inch 

 in the tail. 



