Puteh Selection

Guide to choosing a Mata Puteh

Choosing of the mata puteh is a myth from the older generation bird keeper, to me as long as it chirp loud, has middle tone, jump and stay at the side of the cage and middle tone, then you can purchased this bird already, whether it had long or short buka in the future depend on your luck.

A puteh can cost you $40 to $500 depend on the quality & countries the birds are imported, I personally think that is not worth to spent so much on puteh for $400-$500. A potential puteh will not perform his best when you just bought it, you need to keep at least 3 years, I should said the older(age) the better.as you keep the bird for a period of time when bought, the buka sound will changed once the bird go through molting & the sound will never be the same anymore, this will continue for 7 to 8 molting until finally it enter the middle age stages then the buka sound will remain permanently, so no point wasting so much $$ on a new puteh who doesn't guaranteed you a beautiful buka, always start with a $40 to $ 60 one will do, you will be surprised that they are even better than the few hundred dollars one.

As for female puteh, it will not have middle tone (tiong aw) and had a chirp sound only, sometime the colour also gave it away depend from which country it from as colour can tell if the bird from indo and…

If the puteh sing with his throat, mean he is middle toning (tiong aw) and that tells you he is a confirmed male, not a potential bird.

These are some pointers which I look out when choosing:

a) Look for those with slim and long body, no deformed feet etc.
b) Make sure those do not have any bad habits like head rotation or even somersault.
c) Look out for middle tone. If one does, confirm male and can choose already.

There are so many factors that can affect the bird; I would say the most important is how you rear the bird. I am sure even a $20 puteh will be a very good bird. Enjoy your hobby. Cheers!

How to differentiate between male and female

Only sure way is to listen to its mid-tone or sub-song. Then confirm male.
The below are examples of the canary like song often sung by a Mata Puteh. Sometimes it can be quite loud, sometimes just a soft murmur.

As for female puteh, it will not have middle tone (tiong aw) and had a chirp sound only, sometime the colour also gave it away depend from which country it from as colour can tell if the bird from indo and...
If the puteh sing with his throat, mean he is middle toning (tiong aw) and that tells you he is a confirmed male, but may not be a potential bird.

This is what I know about the legendary '“Ayam”' puteh. 

During the 60's to 70's, the appreciation of the puteh's voice was quite different from today. Putehs with very loud and clear notes are the ones that command the highest price. Z. palpebrosa from a certain locality (if I remember correctly, somewhere near Kota Tinggi) are very well known to possess this type of voice quality. These birds were called '“Ayam”' birds by the fanciers of those days. (Please do not ask me why it is named after the chicken for I am as puzzled as you are). The buka of these birds consists of only few notes (say 4 to 8 notes in a each single burst) but each note is very clear and 'separated' from the next. It is quite difficult to describe all these in words but I will try my best. Now imagine going to a chai arena today and there are about 100 birds there. If you would hang your puteh somewhere in the middle of the arena, and you are standing outside the arena watching, you would probably only be able to see your puteh's mouth opening in buka and not be able to hear because of the noises of all the others. If that puteh is an '“Ayam”', you be able to hear its voice as well among all the noises. This is best I can describe the loudness of an “Ayam” puteh. The notes are very clear, distinctly separated from one another and each series of notes from a single burst is delivered in a much slower pace. The best way I could describe this is to say that you would be able to count how many notes in each burst very easily without having to rush through the counting in order to keep up with the bird. Now the clarity of the notes is very hard to describe in words. The best I can do is to say that each note is full and complete before the next one is delivered. 

During those days the demand for such birds was very high and the amount of trappings concentrating in that area soon wipes out all the wild '“Ayam”. This type of voice quality birds is hard to find from other places the trend changed naturally to accommodate what is available. Birds with long buka (some twenty plus notes long) soon find appreciation among the hobbyists. Some of the old timers will refer to this type of buka as 'machine gun buka" - too many notes delivered in one burst will naturally jumble up the notes and lessen the volume. However, as compared to the “Ayam” type buka, the machine gun type buka is more melodious.
These days, the “Ayam” type buka is not appreciated any more so don't bother to look for it. There are still birds around that have clear notes in their buka but few can match the volume of the legendary “Ayam”. In any case, this type of buka is now regarded to be mono-toned because of the lack of melody. The current trend is different, many people like the machine gun type of buka better - the longer the better it seems. I personally will just keep what I like. 
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Enjoy your hobby. Cheers.