FIJENEW ZEALAND EXPEDITION 131 
adaptability, wariness in eluding enemies, its omnivorous food 
habits and its selection of breeding places. After all, one can not 
help admiring this bird.’’* 
In a communication which I recently received from Dr. Casey 
A. Wood of Chicago, Illinois, who has just returned from Fiji, 
there is included a transcript of a report which he made to the 
Colonial Secretary concerning the mynah. The comparatively few 
stomach examinations which he has made reveal few insects and 
in areas where Koster’s curse abounds he found that the birds had 
been feeding upon both the seeds and soft parts of that exceeding- 
ly noxious plant pest. The seeds were unaffected by the digestive 
juices of the bird which seems to act as a disseminator of un- 
desirable plants and ‘‘a very poor exterminator of (possibly) 
harmful insects.’’ 
The beautiful Australian diamond-bird (Pordolotus sp.) has 
also been introduced into Fiji where it, too, seems to thrive un- 
usually well. 
One of the most familiar birds in Vitilevu is the little finch- 
like ploceid, Erythrura pealet. Its vivid greenish coloration is set 
off by bright crimson on rump and crown. This bird frequents 
the more open districts where it feeds very largely on seeds but 
where also, it serves as a target for the sling-shots and air rifles 
of the Hindu and Fijian boys. 
Another common species in and about Suva is the noisy, gray- 
ish, eaterpillar-shrike, Lalage pacifica (Campephagide). 
The need for more nocturnal and crepuscular insectivorous 
birds in Fiji is evident to those who have conditions there at heart 
and some attempt will probably be made in the near future by the 
Colonial Department of Agriculture to introduce certain Austra- 
lan species for the purpose of controlling noxious insects, particu- 
larly night-flying moths. During my stay in the islands, by in- 
vitation of the Acting Director of the Colonial Department of 
Agriculture, I participated in a conference dealing with the pro- 
posed issue. It is felt by some that, since Fiji is almost without 
night flying insectivorous birds, a few judiciously selected importa- 
tions from the sister colony 2,500 miles away will supplement the 
good work of the native diurnal forms. The three birds which 
seem to offer the greatest possibilities are the white-throated night- 
3 Stoner, Dayton, The Mynah—A Study in Adaptation. The Auk, XL, 
No. 2, 328-330, 1923. 
