134 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



purpliah-red on the inner webe with a blackish spot, the 

 outer webs bJackish-violet, tips of feathers yellowish- 

 green ; forehead and front of head dark grass-gi'een ; 

 back of head dark violaoeouis-blne ; lores, cheeks, throat, 

 and breast, red ; middle of abdomen piu'ple ; flanks and 

 under tail-coverts yellowish-green ; greater under wing- 

 coverts black, smaller ones igi'pen ; beak and feet red ; 

 irides red with an inner ring of yellow. Female not 

 differentiated. Hab., Washington and Fanning Islands. 



Once imported, in 1879, by iliss Hagenbeck. 



It is disheartening, after looking through the pages 

 of many volimies, to discover how veiy little has been 

 puljlished aibant the wild life of the true Lories, Of 

 course, we know that they nest in holes in trees and iaj" 

 white eggs, and we ai'e well aware of the nature of their 

 food ; nevertheless, imtil the life history of ecch 

 separate species has been described we never know 

 what unexpected details may turn up ; it is also intere.st- 

 inig to know whether a bird nests ait a great height or 

 near to the gi'ound, the nrunber of its eggs, how long 

 they take to incubate, whether both parents sit and feed 

 the young, how long the young take to develop, and 

 whether or no their nestling plumage differs from that 

 of their parents. 



LORIKEETS. 



We now come to the Lorikeets, which my friend Mr, 

 Seth-Smith has included (imiike the Lories) in his work 

 on the Parrakeets, Respecting the sexes of the 

 Lorikeets, he says (a.o, I have noted in my book, " How 

 to Sex Oage-Birds," p. 107) : — "The sexes are, to far as 

 I am aware, alike in plxunage in all the Lories, but, in 

 most cases at least, the feanales are slightly less in size 

 than the males, and possess a smaller and more 

 effeminate-looking head." 



Blue-paced Lorikeet [Triclwqlossus lutmatodcs). 



Back, wings, and tail green, feathers of interscapular 

 region with concealed yellow spots, sometimes tinged 

 with red ; forehead, cheeks, and chin bine ; back of 

 head, ear-coverts, and throat green; a greenish -yellow 

 band on the nape ; breast yellow, more or less siiffused 

 witli orange, the feathens with diffused igreen edges ; 

 flanks and under wing-coverts yellow, more or less tinged 

 with red ; middle of abdomen dai-k green ; back of 

 albdomen, thighs, and under tail-coverts greenish- 

 yeJlow spotted with green ; flights below dusky, with 

 a yellow band; tail below yellow; beak red: fee.t dark 

 grey; irides yellow or red. Female pix>bably with 

 narrower beak and the orange suffusion on the' breast 

 Itess pronounced. Hab., Timor. 



I iiave found no notes on the wild life. It is a rarelj- 

 imported bird which first arrived at our Regent's Park 

 Gardens in 1863 ; a second specimen being rpurchased in 

 1874, 



FoHSTEx's LoDiKEET (Tricfinrjlossus forsl.au). 

 Back, wings, and tail green, feathers of interscapular 

 region with concealed red spots and brovimidi-purple 

 edges ; head purplish brown more or less suffused with 

 blue, vertex faintly tinged with green ; a greenish- 

 yellow band on the nape; throat and abdomen dark 

 rurjjle ; breast bright scarlet ; flanks, vent, and imder 

 tail-coverts yellow, all the feathers broadly tipped with 

 green ; under wing-coverts red ; flights ' below dusky 

 black, with a yellow band; tail below ycllow-gi-eyish on 

 inner feathers; beak red, pale yellow at tip of upper 

 mandible ; feet olive-green ; irides probably red, Feniale 



with narrower and more tapering beak. Hab.^ 

 Sumbawa. 



Mr. Frank Finn says (The Ibis, 1901. p. 439) that, 

 since 1894, this has been quite the most conmionly 

 imported species of Loiy in the Calcutta market. Two 

 examples cf T. forsteni were added to the Zoological 

 iSociety's collection at Regent's Park in December, 1896. 

 In 1900 Mrs. IMicheU purchased a pair from Jamrach 

 whicli went to nest in the hollow part, of an old tree 

 in her outdoor aviary ; laying in all three eggs ; the first 

 two eggs were removed, ibut the third was hatched and 

 reared. An accomit is published in T/k AvlcuUural 

 Magazine, Second Series, Vol. IV., pp. 24, 25. 



Green-naped Lorikeet [T richoglossus cyanogrammus). 



Back, wings, and tail gi'een ; a yellowish-green band 

 on the nape, the feathers of wliich are crossed in the 

 middle by a concealed red band, as also are the inter- 

 scapular feathers ; foreiliead and cheeks blue ; vertex 

 greenish ; back of head, ear-coverts, and throat purplish- 

 black ; lower throat and upper breast tjcarlet with 

 purplish-bllack edges to the featliers, excepting at sides, 

 of breast w^here the edges are green ; middle of 

 abdomen green, lower abdomen and flanks yellow, 

 barred with igreen ; under taiil-coverts yellow, tipped 

 with green ; rmder wing-covei-ts red ; flights below 

 dusky, broadly tended with yelHow at the base, the 

 lattea- tinged with red on the inner e<i>condaries ; tail 

 below olive, witli the inner webs of the feathers yellow ; 

 beak orange-red; feet lead-colour ; iridets red. Female 

 probably with the beak narrower at the base than in 

 the male. Hab., Amboyna gi-oup and Western Papua. 



According to Salvador! this species " frequents the 

 smaller branches of coppices aaid the tops of low trees, 

 and nourishes itself on casuiriiia seeds, fruit and nectar. 

 It is a quarrelsome and noisy bird " [cf. Seth-Smith, 

 " Parrakeets," p. 6). 



This Lorikeet was exhibited in the London Zoological 

 Gardens in 1874; it has also reached the Hamburg 

 Gardens, and in 1879 Dr. Platen brought home three 

 examples. 



Black-throated Lorikest (T richoglossus 

 nigriijidaris). 



Differs from the preceding in the more uniform 

 colouring of the head — 'blue, with the vertex and back 

 of head gi'een, tlie latter showing hardly a trace of 

 purplish; throat ijmijyle: breast paler and of a more 

 orange-i'ed colour, Vv'iMi narrov^er dark borders to the 

 feathers ; middle of abdonien more or less varied with 

 black. Hab., Aru, Southern New Guinea along the 

 middle of the Fly River, and Ke Islands. 



Dr. Guillemard says (" Proceedangs of the Zoological 

 Society," 1885, p. 623): — "Iris orange; bill bright 

 orange-red ; feet grej'ish black." " A common bird at 

 Dob bo especially, differs from T. cyanogrammus in the 

 greater length of tail and wings." 



Mr. W. A. Harding obtained a pair of this species 

 through Mrs. Jolmstone, who imported them in 1904. 

 In The AvkuUural Magazine, Second Series, Vol. IV., 

 pp. 21, 22, he has published an illustrated account of 

 the species, in which he quotes the following notes by 

 Wallace (Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 

 New Series, Vol. XX., p. 475) : — " The very first bird to 

 attract one's attention at Dcbbo (Aru I.slands) is a most 

 beautiful brush-tongued Parrcquet, closely allied to 

 Trichoglossua cyanogrammus, Wagl. It frequents in 

 flocks the casuarina-trees which luie the beach, and its 

 crimson under wings and orange breast make it a most 

 con.spicuous and brilliant object. Its twittering whistle 



