24 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



third pairs, this character being absent from an un- 

 doubted female in his possession, which ako had the 

 three outer pairs of tail feathers entirely white, the 

 body paler chestnut-brown, the plumage above more 

 dingy, and the size smaller. Habitat, Borneo. 



Russ gives no information respecting the habits of 

 this Shama, either wild or in captivity ; but in The 

 Avicultural Magazine for February, 1898, the Rev. 

 Hubert D. Astley has given an interesting account of a 

 Shama in his possession, which, according to Mr. 

 Reginald Phillipps, is probably not the ordinary species, 

 but O. suavis. Mr. Astley recommends that the bird 

 should be fed upon Abrahams' or some other insectivor- 

 ous mixture, fresh chopped raw beef, mealworms, fruit, 

 and insects. He also recommends a roomy cage and a 

 big bath. 



Several owners of Shamas have insisted upon the 

 necessity for meat in some form, either raw or cooked, 

 for feeding them ; they undoubtedly eat it when offered. 

 but I know that they do equally well without it, and 

 I am not at all sure that it is good for them. I have 

 found that butchers' meat, given to insectivorous birds 

 as a regular article of diet, is apt to scour them badly. 

 A very little now and again may be beneficial, by acting 

 as a mild purgative ; and if for weeks together I am 

 unable to get either fur or feather for my Jays, and 

 consequently think it well to mince up a little raw beef 

 for them, I generally give my other soft-food eaters a 

 taste, but not otherwise. 



Of course a roomy cage and daily bath are necessary 

 to the health and condition of Shamas ; without both 

 they soon become ragged, dirty, and unhealthy, are a 

 misery to themselves, and give no satisfaction to their 

 owner. The man who cannot accommodate one of these 

 delightful birds with a 2-ft. long cage has no business 

 to try to keep it, unless he likes to leave the door open 

 and let the bird please itself as to whether it will roost 

 inside or out. My bird on one occasion had his door 

 left open accidentally for hours, but never took the 

 trouble to leave the cage. 



BLUEBIRDS (Siali). 



COMMON BLUEBIRD OR BLUE ROBIN (Sialia sialt*). 



The colour of the cock Blue Robin above is bright 

 lazuline blue, including the greater part of the wings 

 and the tail ; the cheeks are duller ; the under parts 

 are bright reddish chocolate, with the centre of the 

 abdomen, vent, and under tail-coverte white; tail 

 below bluish grey; tips of flights above blackish, 

 those of iimer secondaries fringed with brown ; tail 

 feathers above slightly blackish at the tips ; bill and 

 feet black. The hen is duller, and tinged with brown 

 on the head and beak. The young bird has the head 

 and beak of a brownish ash colour, the feathers 

 partly streaked with white ; under parts mostly white, 

 but the throat and breast greyish, streaked and 

 spotted with a deeper shade. The young bird attains 

 its adult plumage at the first moult, but the bill shows 

 greater ba-al width, and is shorter than in either 

 parent ; probably that of male birds does not attain 

 to the slenderness and length of fully adult cocks 

 until the end of its second year.* 



The Bluebird inhabits the Eastern United States, 

 its ranee extending westward as far as Fort Laramie, 

 Milk River, northward to Lake Winnipeg, and south- 

 ward to Bermuda and Cuba, though it is rare in the 



* This apparent inconstancy in the proportions .)( the bill in full- 

 coloured skins has led scientific ornithologists to doubt the value of 

 the form of the bill as a sexual distinct ion, but all broad-billed males 

 will be found to be small ; they are birds of t'le year. 



latter island. It is generally seen paired in the spring, 

 busily turning over leaves, examining trunks or 

 branches of trees, or posts or fences, in search of 

 insects, especially small beetles, though it also feeds 

 on caterpillars and winged insects of many kinds. In 

 the autumn, when insects are scarce, it lives largely 

 upon berries and small fruits. 



The song, as already mentioned, consists of a low, 

 soft, but not unpleasant warbling ; the call-note is 

 plaintive, and usually consists of a duplicated soft 

 whistle. 



The natural site for the nest of the Bluebird is a 

 hole in a tree (in which respect it resembles our 

 Robin), but it readily takes possession of a box hung 

 up for its use by its American admirers. There is not 

 the least trouble in getting the Bluebird to breed in 

 captivity, a box of the cigar-box pattern, with one 

 half of the lid cut off and the other fastened down, 

 being preferred to any other receptacle for the < 

 In its wild state this species constructs its nest of iii it- 

 grass, sedges, leaves, feathers, hair, or other soft 

 materials loosely put together. 



The number 'of eggs deposited varies from three to 

 five, or even sometimes six ; these are dull blue, some- 



HEAD OF BLUEBIRD, 



Bills of Male and 

 Female Blackbirds. 



what like that of the Wheatear, but rather shorter, and 

 deeper in colour. Three broods are naturally produced 

 in a year, and I have had three nests of eggs in one 

 year in an aviary. Incubation lasts thirteen days, but 

 as the parents feed the young almost wholly on insects 

 (which they swallow and disgorge again, whilst the 

 young are delicate and unfeathered) the ta.sk of pro- 

 viding for the wants of even one youngster in an 

 indoor aviary is no light task, as I found to my cost. 

 On the other hand, the Rev. C. D. Farrar, of York- 

 shire, who used to keep his birds in large natural open- 

 air avia.ries throughout the year, bred Blue Robins 

 freelv and without difficulty. It is curious, as Mr. 

 Farrar also observes, that the recklessness with which 

 the hen Bluebird leaves her eggs when sitting does 

 not interfere with their hatching; for whenever the 

 male bird brings her an insect she goe< off her nest 

 to swallow it, yet the eggs almost invariably hatch at 

 the right time.' I have 'had several youngsters partly 

 reared, although only one example in my aviaries ever 

 lived to attain its adult plumage. 



I bred the Blue Robin in June, 1890, and published 

 the following account in The Zoologist for April, 1! 

 pp. 154-6: 



"My Blue Robins made friends early in June, t 

 cock bird giving every in-ect he got hold of to the 

 hen to induce her to receive his attentions ; the hen 

 was very coy, and refused his advances until the end 

 of the first fortnight. The pairing was a noisy affair, 



