Most of the suggestions and postings made here are meant for anyone who wished to maintain his Puteh in good health and hence in good form. This will ensure that your Puteh will be in form but by no means will you be guaranteed a "Champion bird' or even a second and third placing.
All over the world, people keep songbirds for the pleasure of listening to their songs. In the east, such a hobby is taken a little bit further, and enjoyed like an art. Actually it is a combination of both art and science. Hence over here, we had cultivated the taste to appreciate birds in a certain way which can be very strange to westerners or new comers to the hobby (but once they have acquired that taste, it will be like getting bitten by a bird bug that will remain with them for the rest of their lives).
To begin with, we must listen and learn what kind of songs is most pleasurable to our ears. Next we must have the eye for a good bird - in the case of the puteh, the way they stand, their physique, their movements etc. Then we must have the patience and know-how to train and nurture it to be close to a stage of perfection vocally and appearance wise. Finally, the way they are being presented in public - the beautiful cages and accessories most suitable to compliment the species of bird.
So as you can see, the serious hobbyist in this part of the world don't just walk into a shop, ask for a Puteh, throw it into a cage, hang it up and say, "a Puteh is a Zosterops and it can sing".....
Ok, now how a bird should sound like, how it should move about, how it should carry itself etc., the guidelines are not set overnight because someone fancy it to be so. Most of these are in some ways, interpretations of the bird in its natural state during the period when it is at its peak. For example: The aggressive territorial songs, the aggressive stance and the displays of a Puteh.
These guidelines are also used in judging birds in the competitions - certain number of points awarded for song, certain points for loudness, certain points for 'play' etc. etc. Some movements are deemed undesirable perhaps because they don't coincide with the smooth flow of the bird in full display or 'play'. Example: if during the middle of an aggressive territorial display of the Puteh, it suddenly stops and twist its head in a very awkward way, how would it look like to you? This is also not in any way the natural movements of a normal Puteh in the wild. Such movements are obviously very undesirable when presenting your bird in a competition or in public ““Chai”” places. Hobbyists refer to these undesirable movements like bad habits in movements.
Putehs, jumping from the perch to under the roof and back again onto the perch (if that is what you meant by somersault) - can this be considered a bad habit? It all depends on how people interpreted this movement - whether it is deemed to be a natural part of the 'play' or whether it is considered as a distraction from the normal 'play' of the bird. Some do and some don't. During those days when Putehs are plentiful, some hobbyists will discard birds with the slightest of 'imperfection' and such movements then could be a little more undesirable than now. Guidelines and interpretations do change because of circumstances. In these days when birds are hard to come by, not many will regard this as an 'imperfection'.
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Enjoy your hobby. Cheers!
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