The New Softbill Handbook

The New Softbill Handbook

by Werner Steinigeweg

Publisher: Barron's, 1st ed., 1988

ISBN-10: 0812040759

ISBN-13: 978-0812040753

103 pages

All the softbills introduced in this handbook are wild birds. In contrast to domesticated pet birds, such as canaries, which have adapted completely to life in a man-made environment, caged wild birds retain almost all the traits and varied behavior that characterize their cousins in the wild, even if they have been cage-bred for two or three generations. This is what makes watching them so intriguing.

Softbills are considerably more demanding about diet and nesting conditions than seed-eating birds. If a pair of birds is disturbed during courtship they will not mate, and the parent birds must have insects that resemble the prey they find in nature to feed their young.

Werner Steinigeweg, who is a veterinarian, a member of the staff of the Veterinary College of Hannover (West Germany), and the author of this book, has been keeping and breeding white-eyes, bulbuls, Pekin robins, and other softbills for many years. In this practical handbook he introduces 28 exotic softbills that are often kept as cage birds. The descriptions include advice on how to keep and breed each species as well as detailed information on the place of origin, appearance, behavior, and typical song of the birds.

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