134 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



purplish-red on the inner webs with a blackish spot, the 

 outer webs blackish-violet, tips of feathers yellowish- 

 green ; forehead and front of head dark grass-green ; 

 back of head dark violaceous-blue ; lores, cheeks, throat, 

 and breast, red ; middle of abdomen purple ; flanks and 

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

 coverts black, smaller ones green ; 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 'Miss Hagenbeck. 



It is disheartening, after looking through the pages 

 of many volumes, to discover how very little has been 

 published about the wild life of the true Lories. Of 

 course, we know that they nest in holes in trees and lay 

 white eggs, and we are well aware of the nature of their 

 food ; nevertheless, until the life history of each 

 separate species has been described we never know 

 what unexpected details may turn up ; it is also interest- 

 ing to know whether a bird nests ait a. great height or 

 near to the ground, the n umber of its eggs, how long 

 they take to incubate, whether bo ; th parents sit and 1 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 {unlike the Lories) in his work 

 on the Parrakeets. Respecting the sexes of the 

 Lorikeets, he says (as. I have noted in my book, " How- 

 to Sex Oa.ge-Birds," p. 107) : "The sexes are, &o far as 

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

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

 than the males, and possess a smaller and more 

 effeminate-looking head." 



BLUE-FACED LORIKEET (Trichocjlossus hccmatodes). 



Back, wings, and tail green, feathers of interscapular 

 region with concealed yellow spots, sometimes tinged 

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

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

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

 with orange, the feathers with diffused igreen edges; 

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

 with red ; middle of abdomen dark green ; back of 

 aJbdomen, thighs, and under tail-coverts greenish- 

 yefllow spotted with green ; flights below dusky, with 

 a yellow band ; tail below yellow ; beak red ; feet dark 

 grey ; irides yellow or red. Female probably with 

 narrower beak and the orange suffusion on the breast 

 Bess pronounced. Hab., Timor. 



I have found no notes on the wild life. It is a rarely 

 imported bird which first arrived at our Regent's Park 

 Gardens in 1863 ; a second specimen being purchased in 

 1874. 



FORSTEK'S LORIKEET (Trichocjlossus forstcnl). 

 Back, wings, and tail green, feathers of interscaptilar 

 region with concealed red spots and brownish-purple 

 edges ; head purplish brown more or less suffused with 

 blue, vertex faintly tinged with green ; a greenish- 

 yellow Viand on the nape ; throat and abdomen dark 

 purple ; breast 'bright scarlet ; flanks, vent, and under 

 tail-coverts yellow, all the feathers broadly tipped with 

 green ; under wing-coverts red ; flights below dusky 

 black, with a yellow band ; tail beJow yellow-greyish on 

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

 mandible ; feet olive-green ; irides probably red. Female 



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 commonly 

 imported species of Lory in the Calcutta market. Two 

 examples of T. forsteni were added to the Zoological 

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

 In 1900 Mrs. Michel! purchased a pair from Jamrach 

 which 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, ibub the third was hatched and 

 reared. An account is published in The Avicultural 

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



GREEN-NAPED LORIKEET (Trichonlossus cyanogrammus). 



Back, wings, and tail green ; a yellowish-green band 

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

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

 scapular feathers; forehead and cheeks blue; vertex 

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

 black; lower throat and upper breast scarlet with 

 purplish-black edges to the feathers, excepting at sides. 

 of breast where the edges are green ; middle of 

 abdomen green, lower abdomen and flanks yellow,., 

 barred with green ; under tail-coverts yellow, tipped 

 with green ; under wing-coverts red ; flights below- 

 dusky, broadly banded with yellow at the base, the 

 latter tinged with red on the inner secondaries ; tail 

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

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

 probably with the beak narrower at the base than ir> 

 the male. Hab., Amboyna group and Western Papua. 



According to Salvador! this species " frequents the- 

 smaller branches of coppices aad the tops of low trees, 

 and nourishes itself on casuirina .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 LORIKEET (T richoqlossus 



Differs from the preceding in the more uniform 

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

 of head green, the latter showing hardly a trace of 

 purplish ; throat pimple : breast pailer and of a more. 

 orange-red colour, wi+-h narrower dark borders to the 

 feathers ; middle of abdomen more or less varied with 

 black. Ha/b., Aru, Southern New Guinea along the 

 middle of the Fly River, and Ke Islands. 



Dr. Guillemard says (" Proceedings of the Zoological 

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

 orange-red; feet greyish black." "A common bird at. 

 Dobbo 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. Johnstone, who imported them in 1904. 

 In The Avicultural 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 Dobbo (Aru Islands) is a most 

 beautiful brush-tooigued Parroquet, closely allied to 

 '/'/irhoglossus cyanogrammus, Wagl. It frequents in 

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

 crimson under wings and orange breast make it a most 

 conspicuous and brilliant object. Its twittering whistle 



