OCEANIA WOOD 407 



that they might pluck regular crops of feathers from the unfor- 

 tunate parrots. This cruel practice continued until the arrival in 

 the colony, as governor, of that sympathetic and well-known 

 naturalist. Sir Everard im Thurn, who put an end to the scandal. 

 The large Fijian parrots built their nests in hollow trees, and gen- 

 erally 20 or 30 feet from the ground. I discovered one nest in a 

 decayed stump less than 5 feet high. The central hole was 8 inches 

 across and the nest was a very primitive affair, consisting only of 

 the debris that had accumulated in the bottom of the excavation. 

 There were three, nearly round, dirty-brown eggs which, when 

 cleansed, became uniformly white. They measured 1^^ by If inches. 



The other species of this interesting genus are peculiar to (or the 

 types hail from) Taviuni, Vanua Levu, and Koro, respectively. The}^ 

 differ from the Kandavan variety mainly in the amount of blue on 

 the nape of the neck, it being entirely absent in the first mentioned 

 and seen only as an inconspicuous streak in the other two. 



In about 1 per cent of the long-tailed Fijian parrots cases of 

 heterochrosis occur ; that is, the red, green, and blue feathers in the 

 birds' plumage to a greater or less extent change to yellow and 

 white. Although this color alteration is abnormal it frequently is 

 seen in perfectly healthy subjects of great intelligence and vivacity. 

 Moreover, the alternations often result in color combinations far 

 surpassing in attractiveness the plumage tints of the normal parrot. 



The chief glory of Fiji's avifauna undoubtedly lies in her wild 

 fruit pigeons and doves, several of which are found only on the 

 islands of the group. The nutmeg pigeon, so called from its favorite 

 diet, is Glohicera pacifica^ with an iridescent, wine-colored plumage 

 and a remarkable stomach lined with horny spines to grind off and 

 pulpify the arillus or "mace" from the wild nutmegs on which 

 he chiefly subsists. The equally beautiful Chili piegon, or ruve, 

 Janthoenas vitiensis, flourishes on red-hot capsicums. 



Of the wonderfully feathered little fruit doves much has been 

 written ; indeed it is quite impossible to describe their gorgeous color- 

 ing; they must be seen to be appreciated. Male and female are 

 quite differently feathered in all the species, the male golden dove 

 {Chrysaena luteovirens) having an olive-yellow cap fringed with 

 yellowish, the remainder of the body being mostly clothed in a 

 covering of lovely, separated, glossy, lanceolated, golden feathers. 

 He has a yellow-green tail; while the female is greenish through- 

 out; indeed, goes under the popular name of the green dove. 



Then, there is the crimson-capped dove {Ptilinopus perousei) that 

 looks white as it flies, but is really a remarkable study in dark 

 purple, bronze-green and white, the first and last colors predominat- 

 mg. This beautiful dove sports a crimson cape over his slioulders 



