Extracts from my Diary

<sub>I have been keeping a record of my shama breeding and matters relating to the shama since 1998 to the present day. Below is an extract from 2001.

I mention a person by the name of P in the extract below.  He was a person who resided in the Malaysian town of Ipoh.  I had purchased Godfather and Pastor from him. They were both birds from Baling. I was impressed with his knowledge of shamas.

It is very important to me that my shamas must have a strong character.  An indication that a shama does not have a strong character is that it tends to fluff when in the close presence of other male shamas.  I make it a point not to breed from such birds.  Both my original stud shamas had very strong characters that they have passed to their offspring.  The extract below clarifies where this trait came from.</sub>

_{April 2001 - C and I visited P in Johore Bahru.  P said that the shamas from Ipoh come from 3 hilly areas - Baling, Grik and Serama (“mountain birds”).  Those with the longest tails are from Baling.  The tails of the Grik birds are slightly shorter.  The birds from Serama do not have long tails and one with 9½" tails would be exceptional.  However, the Serama birds are very beautiful and have prawn-like tails.  The rump feathers of the mountain birds tend to be erect when other shamas are present even though they are not in good form, unlike other shamas that only respond when they are in good form.  The mountain birds also do not fluff in the presence of other male shamas.  There are large bodied mountain birds but the smaller birds are preferred because they are more agile.  Each mountain bird occupies a much larger area than the shamas in the lowlands.}