92 The Indian Shama 



Now, most birds want to settle themselves down in 

 new surroundings and amongst new faces before they 

 commence singing ; but the very next morning, in all, 

 probability, your shama begins to warble and tune up, 

 if not the same afternoon. 



If you want to keep him in good health and plum- 

 age, you will put him in a really roomy cage ; a wicker 

 dove's cage, made to order, with the canes less widely 

 built apart than is usual in " reach-me-downs," would 

 be as good as any, with a zinc sand-drawer ; or else a 

 long wooden cage, also like the wicker one, made of 

 open bars on all sides and at the top. 



The cage, if a really nice one is required, can be 

 made of mahogany, with neat cane or wooden bars — 

 not wire, at any rate ; and it must be long enough for 

 your shama to be able to hop on two perches, placed 

 half-way up the cage, so that on whichever perch he 

 is sitting his tail does not touch the bars at either end. 



He must have a roomy bath to hang on to the 

 door, and he doesn't eat seed. 



And although he doesn't, he is little or no more 

 trouble to keep than a bullfinch. 



I rather mistrust people in their love for birds 

 when they say . " I'm so fond of birds ; now do recom- 

 mend me a nice bird. I don't like canaries, you know ; 

 they scream so. I can't have a bird that eats messy 

 food : meat and those horrid creepy-crawly things — 

 'mealworms' don't you call them ? — those sort of birds 

 are such a trouble. I want some nice bird that every- 

 body else doesn't keep ; I do like having something 

 that most other people don't have ; something that 



