White-rumped Shama

Background

The white-rumped shama was featured on the S$50 Bird Series currency notes released by the Monetary Authority of Singapore between 1976 and 1984,³ and on Cashcards launched by Singapore Mint in 2001 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the actual notes.⁴ It has been depicted twice on 50-cent postage stamps of Singapore in 1963⁵ and 1978.⁶

Description
The white-rumped shama was previously classified as part of the Thrush family (Turdidae),⁷ but DNA studies have since classified it under the Flycatcher family (Muscicapidae).⁸ It is recognisable by its glossy black head, back, wings and long tail with white outer feathers, its chestnut belly and white patch on its lower back.⁹ Adults of both sexes are similarly coloured, but in females the black parts are replaced by dark grey. Juveniles are mostly brown on their upperparts with buff spots.¹⁰ Males average approximately 27 cm in length with a tail about 19 cm long, while females average 22 cm in length with a tail approximately 14.5 cm long.¹¹

Despite its distinctive and attractive appearance, the call of the white-rumped shama is its most valuable asset, as it is not only loud and melodious but also rich in notes and tonal quality.¹² This has led to the species being heavily exploited in the caged bird trade. It is also known to imitate the songs of other birds.¹³ The males are more consistent singers, with females singing only during the breeding season.¹⁴ The gait of this bird is a mixture of hops and dashes, with an occasional pause and tilting of its head to one side.¹⁵ It hops about on the ground with its tail held high.¹⁶

The white-rumped shama is one of the four most popular songbird species in the caged bird trade in Singapore, the others being the oriental white-eye, China thrush and red-whiskered bulbul. The value of the bird is based on two attributes: its physical appearance and its song. Longer-tailed birds fetch higher prices, and song quality is judged on a range of songs.¹⁷ Several ornithologists have named the white-rumped shama as the best songbird in the Malay Peninsula, above its more well-known relative, the magpie robin (Copsychus saularis).¹⁸     

Reproduction
The white-rumped shama breeds from March to June.¹⁹ Its nest is usually built in a hole in a low tree or in the undergrowth.²⁰ Males are territorial and will sing to warn other males in the vicinity.²¹ Two to three eggs, which are pale green with light brown and dark lilac spots, are usually laid.²²

Diet
The white-rumped shama feeds on insects such as ants, grasshoppers, centipedes, black ants, worms, spiders, caterpillars and other small creatures, which it picks up from the ground or among bushes.²³

Distribution and habitat
The range of the white-rumped shama extends from the Indian subcontinent, South China and Southeast Asia to the Greater Sunda Islands.²⁴ In the early 1930s, it was also introduced to the Hawaiian islands, where it is now resident and breeding. Several subspecies also exist there.²⁵

The white-rumped shama is found in forested areas, secondary jungle or where there is thick cover. It seldom ventures into the open and is more often heard than seen.²⁶ In Singapore, it has been recorded at Pulau Ubin, Pulau Tekong, Sime Road and the Central Catchment Nature Reserve.²⁷ However it is not certain if those spotted in the field are wild birds, released specimens or escaped caged birds.²⁸ Its status as a resident species in Singapore is listed as “rare” as it is encountered with less than 10 percent probability in its preferred habitats. The white-rumped shama was formerly a commonly found bird, but the local population has been heavily poached. Today, it is considered a critically endangered species in Singapore.²⁹ Globally, as of 2016, the white-rumped shama is rated “Least Concern” in terms of population numbers, though their population is decreasing³⁰ mainly due to its exploitation in wildlife trade which is sometimes illegal in nature.³¹

Variant names
Scientific name: Kittacincla malabarica³²
English: Common shama
Malay: Murai Hutan; Murai Batu;³³ Murai Rimba³⁴
Chinese: 白腰鹊鸲 (Bai yao que qu)³⁵ (“White-waisted magpie”)



Author
Eunice Low



References
1. Salim Ali, The Book of Indian Birds (Bombay: Bombay Natural History Society, 1968), 59 (Call no. R 598.2954 ALI); Yong Ding Li and Lim Kim Chuah, A Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds of Singapore (England: John Beaufoy Publishing, 2016), 139 (Call no. RSING 598.095957 YON); Bertram E. Smythies, The Birds of Borneo (Kuala Lumpur: Sabah Society; Malayan Nature Society, 1981), 479 (Call no. RSEA 598.295983 SMY); Christopher Hails, Birds of Singapore (Singapore: Times Editions, 1987), 129. (Call no. RSING 598.295957 HAI)
2. Yong and Lim, Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds, 139; Hails, Birds of Singapore, 129.
3. “Circulation Currency Notes: 2nd Series – The Bird Series Currency Notes (1976–1984),” Monetary Authority of Singapore, accessed 7 August 2019; Sim Chuan Hup, Singapore Money Book (Singapore: Moneyworld Asia, 1994), 32. (Call no. RSING 769.5595957 SIN)
4. “Bird-Series Cashcards, New Coin Set Launched,” Straits Times, 20 July 2001, 5. (From NewspaperSG)
5. Singapore Postage Stamps Catalogue (Singapore: CS Philatelic Agency, 2011), 38 (Call no. RSING 769.5695957 SPSC); “Birds and Orchids on New Singapore Stamps,” Straits Times, 1 February 1963, 11. (From NewspaperSG)
6. Singapore Postage Stamps Catalogue, 54; “New Set of Stamps to Go on Sale,” Straits Times, 29 May 1978, 12; Wee Yeow Chin, Tan Wee Kiat and Wang Luan Keng, One for the Birds: Singapore Stamps & Money (Singapore: Tan Wee Kiat, 2011), 34. (Call no. RSING 769.5695957 WEE)
7. A. G. Glenister, The Birds of the Malay Peninsula, Singapore and Penang (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1971), 211 (Call no. RSING 598.29595 GLE-[RFL]); G. C. Madoc, An Introduction to Malayan Birds (Kuala Lumpur: Malayan Nature, 1947), 171. (Call no. RCLOS 598.29595 MAD-[GBH])
8. Yong and Lim, Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds, 139; R. Chesser, et al., “Fifty-Second Supplement to the American Ornithologists’ Union Check-List of North American Birds,” Auk 128, no. 3 (July 2011), 600–11. (From JSTOR via NLB’s eResources)
9. Ali,  Book of Indian Birds, 59; Glenister, Birds of the Malay Peninsula, Singapore and Penang, 213; Yong and Lim, Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds, 139.
10. Yong and Lim, Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds, 139.
11. Glenister, Birds of the Malay Peninsula, Singapore and Penang, 213; Ali,  Book of Indian Birds; M. W. F. Tweedie, Common Birds of the Malay Peninsula (Kuala Lumpur: Longman Malaysia, 1970), 47. (Call no. RSEA 598.29595 TWE)
12. Hails, Birds of Singapore, 129.
13. Yong and Lim, Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds, 139; Hails, Birds of Singapore, 129; Smythies, Birds of Borneo, 479.
14. Celestino Flores Aguon and Sheila Conant, “Breeding Biology of the White-Rumped Shama on Oahu, Hawaii,” Wilson Bulletin 106, no. 2 (June 1994), 315. (From JSTOR via NLB’s eResources website) 
15. Smythies, Birds of Borneo, 479.
16. Allen Jeyarajasingam, A Field Guide to the Bird of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 343–44. (Call no. RSING 598.095951 JEY)
17. H. D. Lin, “Shama as a Competition Song Bird in Singapore,” Singapore Aviculture: An Official Publication of the Singapore Avicultural Society 3, no. 2 (1983), 3–4 (Call no. RSING 636.6860625957 SA); “Look for Thin Feathers and a Big Head,” Straits Times, 21 February 1997, 3; “Who the Kings Are,” Straits Times, 21 February 1997, 3. (From NewspaperSG)
18. Tweedie, Common Birds of the Malay Peninsula, 47; Ali, Book of Indian Birds, 280.
19. Lim Kim Seng and Alfred Chia, The Avifauna of Singapore (Singapore: Nature Society (Singapore) & Bird Group Records Committee, 2009), 324. (Call no. RSING 598.095957 LIM)
20. Smythies, Birds of Borneo, 302; Yong and Lim, Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds, 139; Herbert C. Robinson, et al., The Birds of the Malay Peninsula: A General Account of the Birds Inhabiting the Region from the Isthmus of Kra to Singapore with the Adjacent Islands (London: H. F. & G. Witherby, 1976), 318 (Call no. RSING 598.29595 ROB); Ali, Book of Indian Birds, 280.
21. Celestino Flores Aguon and Sheila Conant, “Breeding Biology of the White-Rumped Shama on Oahu, Hawaii,” Wilson Bulletin 106, no. 2 (June 1994), 315. (From JSTOR via NLB’s eResources website)
22. Smythies, Birds of Borneo, 302.
23. Smythies, Birds of Borneo, 302, 479–80; Ali,  Book of Indian Birds, 280.
24. Yong and Lim, Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds, 139; Smythies, Birds of Borneo, 479.
25. Lim and Chia, Avifauna of Singapore, 324.
26. Hails, Birds of Singapore, 129; Tweedie, Common Birds of the Malay Peninsula, 47.
27. Yong and Lim, Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds, 139; Clive Briffett, The Birds of Singapore (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 60 (Call no. RSING 598.295757 BRI); Lim and Chia, Avifauna of Singapore, 324; Wang Luan Leng and Christopher J Hails, “An Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Singapore,” Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, supplement no. 15 (30 April 2007): 135.
28. Hails, Birds of Singapore, 129.
29. Yong and Lim, Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds, 139; Lim and Chia, Avifauna of Singapore, 324; Wang and Hails, “Annotated Checklist of the Birds,” 135.
30. “Kittacincla malabarica (White-Rumped Shama),” The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, accessed 13 August 2019.
31. Boyd Leupen, et al., “Trade in White-rumped Shamas Kittacincla Malabarica Demands Strong National and International Responses,” Forktail Journal of Asian Ornithology 34 (2018): 1–8.
32. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, Kittacincla malabarica (White-Rumped Shama),”
33. Glenister, Birds of the Malay Peninsula, Singapore and Penang, 213; Tweedie, Common Birds of the Malay Peninsula, 47.
34. David R. Wells, The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula: Covering Burma and Thailand South of the Eleventh Parallel, Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. Vol. 1, Non-Passerines (California: Academic Press, 1999), 508 (Call no. RSING 598.0959 WEL); Wang and Hails, “Annotated Checklist of the Birds,” 135.
35. Yong and Lim, Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds, 139.



Further resources
“Copsychus Malabaricus,” Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, accessed 1 August 2019.

Craig Robson, Birds of South-East Asia, 2nd ed (London, Christopher Helm, 2015), 472. (Call no. RSING 598.0959 ROB)



The information in this article is valid as at August 2019 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.