326



Notes on the Bing-winged bush shrike.



They are rather skulking in their habits and frequent the

dense scrub and thick foliaged trees, and do not trouble to fly off

if one approaches the bush in which they are hiding. For this

reason they are easily caught, one has simply to place a trap of the

nightingale type under bushes frequented by these birds and one is

almost certain to catch two or more.


After the second day of captivity, they become very tame and

can be turned into a large run and are soon quite at home, and will

come forward to be fed from the hand. I have had a fine pair for

the last nine months and they are as fit to-day as when newly caught.


During the breeding season these birds are very tame, and

with a little care, patience, and trouble will allow one to sit by

the nest while one of the parents broods and the other sits in the

bush not far off. It was in this way that I procured the photos

which accompany these notes. Unlike the Eed-backed Shrike,

these birds almost invariably nest in the base of some thick bush,

low down to the ground, and seldom in a thorny one. They make

little or no use of a larder, for their food consists principally of

soft insects, grubs, caterpillars, young stick insects, mantis, and

grasshoppers. White ants, too, form part of their dietary.


As far as possible I endeavour to keep my birds on this food,

but occasionally have to give them hard-boiled egg into which a little

white cheese has been grated.


I have lately had a nest of this bird under observation : it

contains three young about four days old, and every day I take a

saucer full of egg and cheese to the nesting-place and sprinkle it

on the ground near by. The parents at once come down and feed

the young on the mixture. If the male bird sees me going to

the spot he at once lets his mate know of my approach by uttering

a churring note and flying into the nearest tall tree from which he

glides down with wings outspread towards the nest, the while utter¬

ing his call note, which consists of three loud clear notes, followed

by a series of notes in descending scale and volume. This call and

glide is part of the courting performance.


The colour of the eggs of this species is a pale pink, with

Indian red or crimson brown streaks and spots. Two or three form

the clutch, though four have occasionally been found.



