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Carl Naether—A Beginner tries Softbills



quite scarce in European collections. They are extremely quarrelsome

and the cock often kills his hen, while it is impossible to keep two of

the latter together for long. The chicks are not too easy to rear. Con¬

sequently, these fine birds are much sought after and the demand

always exceeds the supply. The Glittering Copper Pheasant usually

is, however, more easily obtained than Scemmerring’s, and Ijima’s is

the rarest of all.


Copper Pheasants live in mountainous forest districts.



A BEGINNER TRIES SOFTBILLS


By Carl Naether


Though foreign Doves were, so to speak, my first love in aviculture,

I soon found that I could not read the enthusiastic descriptions of

Softbills in issue after issue of the Avicultural Magazine of some

ten or twenty years ago without becoming strongly tempted to procure

a Softbill or two. Especially attracted was I by the Softbill’s ability

to sing. Never having kept an insectivorous bird in cage or aviary

before and having been told by local aviculturists that their care

necessitated an extraordinarily large amount of time and effort, I decided

to begin keeping Softbills in a modest way.


Having read more than a dozen charming accounts of the Shama

Thrush as a songster of unusual ability and quality, I soon placed

an order for one. Immediately upon arrival the bird won my admira¬

tion, for though he had been en route for five days in a small box,

he emerged from it hale and hearty and, to my great surprise and

delight, broke into song the moment he entered his new abode. That

happened more than two years ago.


To-day this Shama Thrush still ranks as the most accomplished

singer among the twenty-five odd varieties of birds which I keep in

cage and aviary. Never have I known a greater mimic. Certainly

in this respect the Shama is far superior to the mocking birds which

he hears outdoors practically the whole day long. His repertoire boasts

the wailing sounds of two Cocker Spaniel puppies, the spirited crowing

of roosters, the cackling of hens, the peculiar rasping sound uttered



