07i the Shdma. 165


chopped up. A sack of silkworm cocoons {bachi da seta) can be

easily procured from Italy. I hear someone say, "Thank you!

No insectivorous birds for me, if that is what it means ! " Yet it

is perfectly easy when once you become accustomed to it, and

keep your food supply in an orderly manner, teaching a trust-

worthy servant how to mix it in the event of your leaving home.

By-the-bye ! Marie biscuit, or any biscuit of that kind, crumbled

up, or a little sponge cake can be thrown in. Give your Shama

a daily bath, measuring the bath to the length of his tail. In the

summer-time when it is warm, hang up his cage under some

shade-giving tree, if you are in the country, where the sunshine

will reach him through the leaves as it would were the bird in

his wild state ; and if warm rain comes, remove his sand

drawer, and put the cage out for a few minutes, for the rain-

drops will improve his plumage and he himself will enjoy it.

The cage can easily be sponged afterwards with a dry sponge, if

it is much wetted.


The Shama, being a native of Indian jungles, would be

sure to like an aviary, probably all to himself and his wife, so

that it need not be a very large one, in which bamboos and thick

bushes were planted. Mr. Phillipps' birds built, I believe, on a

beam under a roof, or on a shelf. With ordinary care, Shamas

are certainly not delicate birds, and can be kept in as good

health and condition as a Blackbird. They are great mimics,

and unfortunately because of that are apt to spoil large portions

of their song, through imitating the chirping of Sparrows and

other oft-repeated and monotonous sounds.



