on Fiji parrot-finches and other South Sea Island matters. 281



and the hen black or vice versa, some young bearing the colouration of

the male, some that of the female, yet they are classed as separate

species. The Fiji parrot finches, like those of New Caledonia and

New Hebrides, are migratory. The blue-headed ones, for instance,

come towards Vila in the New Hebrides during January to March

when the tilling is being done ; it is very hot then, the Fijians on

the other hand visit the settlements in winter time, from June to

September. They are terrors on the rice and not liked by the

Indians for that reason. To see these pretty birds out in the open

—some exquisitely coloured—gladdens the heart of any bird-lover,

and I remember with pleasure even now the happy hours I spent

watching them. To catch them is not a great art if you have a

caller ; to keep them is quite another matter. It is difficult to

transport them as they are very pugnacious amongst themselves

and prone to eye diseases, which renders them almost invariably

blind once they are attacked, and if one bird in the cage has the

disease the whole lot might just as well be liberated or they are

surely doomed. Once they are acclimatised in an aviary they stand

almost any weather conditions and breed very easily. A friend and

I have bred them repeatedly.


Although I have kept this species off and on for many years

I have not succeeded yet in finding out the way of telling the sexes

for a certainty. I doubt if it will be many years before these lovely

aviary birds are gone, even from their native home. Enormous

numbers must perish during the hurricane season each year, and

a far greater number are killed by the mongoose, introduced from

India to destroy the rats. However they seem to have formed an

alliance, for both thrive to an extent which is only comparable to the

rabbit pest in Australia. A number of my call-birds were attacked

and killed before I had time to come to the rescue.


One day, whilst out looking for birds, I watched a curious

sight, which, if not belonging to the avicultural section, might yet

be interesting to a number of readers. Seeing some coolies dig a

trench through what seemed absolutely baked ground I noticed that

after they had dug out about three feet the ground became muddy,

and out of this mud they got eels and mud fish ; unfortunately it only

struck me later on that I ought to have seen whether the fish were



