196 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



dusky base and golden glossed middle ; beak and feet 

 black; iris pale yellow. Hab., Papuan Islands, and 

 ranging eastward as far as the Solomon group. 



In Duke of York Island and New Britain the natives 

 call this Parrot Kalmuji. Dr. Guillemard describes the 

 feet as dull olive-green and the iris of the female as 

 orange or yellow. Dr. Russ says of the male : " Upper 

 mandible yellow to coral red, tip waxy yellow, under 

 mandible black, eyes black-brown, narrower ring grey- 

 brown, brown, or orange-coloured ; feet leaden- 

 coloured, claws black"; and of the female he says : 

 " Eyes brown, ring round the iris beautifully pearl 

 white, feet grey, the scales and claws black." Alto- 

 gether there seems to be a great difference of opinion 

 as to the colouring of the soft parts. 



Dr. Welchman says that on Bugotu, one of the lesser 

 islands of the Solomon group, the native name is 

 "Kilio" (cf. The Ibi*, 1895. p. 374). In 1899 an 

 account of the nidification of this species was published 

 in the " Proceedings (Mittheilungen) of the Berlin 

 Museum of Natural History," Vol. I., Part II., by Dr. 

 F. Dahl. Unfortunately I have been unable to refer 

 to this work. Russ says that in 1879 Dr. Platen 

 imported nine examples of this species. He mentions 

 the German price at 50 to 60 marks for the male ; 60 

 to 75 and even up to 120 marks for the female. 



It is not at all unusual for females of this species 

 to lay eggs in captivity, and there should be little diffi- 

 culty in breeding with a pair in a strongly-constructed 

 large outdoor aviary. As a cage-bird it is not especially 

 interesting, apart from its gorgeous colouring, as it is 

 sluggish in its movements and seems to take little 

 interest in anything going on about its cage ; though 

 I believe it has been taught to speak a few words, 

 neither this nor any of the species of the genus is any- 

 thing like so teachable or talented as a Grey Parrot or 

 an Amazon. 



The London Zoological Society has at various times 

 exhibited a good many examples of this species at the 

 Gardens in Regent's Park. The first received was a 

 female, which was presented in 1859. 



GRAND ECLECTUS (Eclectus roratus). 



The adult male nearly resembles that sex of the pre- 

 ceding species, from which it differs in the slightly 

 duller and yellower green colouring and the usually 

 bluer lateral tail-feathers ; upper mandible red tipped 

 with yellowish, under mandible black ; feet black, iris 

 red. The female is red, brighter on the head ; the 

 nape, mantle, chest, and abdomen purple, the breast 

 with a wash of the same colour over the red ; primaries 

 and their coverts deep blue ; secondaries, excepting the 

 innermost ones, with blue inner webs and tips, a band 

 at the extremity of the tail and the under tail-coverts 

 yellow, tail below orange-red, dusky at the base ; beak 

 and feet black; iris yellow. Hab., Halmaheira group 

 of the Moluccas. 



Dr. Gnillemard says that in the Island of Batchian 

 both sexes have the iris yellow. He also observes : 

 "These birds, though caught and kept in confinement 

 in considerable numbers, appear rarely to get tame, 

 and I have never heard them talk." 



I have been unable to discover any facts respecting 

 the wild life of this bird. 



Dr. Russ says that it is not abundant, though gener- 

 ally known in the market. Dr. Platen brought home 

 thirty males and twenty-four females of the New 

 Guinea and Halmaheii*a Eclectus Parrots. 



In 1880 and 1884 two Germans succeeded in so far 

 rearing young of this Parrot that the latter left the 

 nest alive; but Dr.Frenzel, of Freiberg, in 1881 suc- 



ceeded in breeding the species successfully, after which 

 the same pair had several unsatisfactory broods. Mr. 

 Hieronymus, of Karlsruhe, reared two broods in 1884 

 and one in 1885. Both young of the earliest brood 

 nevertheless died when five and six weeks old respec- 

 tively ; but, in the second one female and in the third 

 one male reached maturity. The laying consisted of 

 two eggs only, at intervals of three days ; duration of 

 incubation, thirty days. The female alone brooded 

 the eggs, being fed by the male ; the latter also fed 

 the young after they left the nest, and retired with 

 them to the nest-box at night excepting in the case of 

 the young cock bird, which was fed by the female 

 only. This successful breeder was awarded the gold 

 medal in recognition of his achievement at the 

 " Ornis " Exhibition, held at Berlin in 5.887. The 

 young male became very tame, and learnt to speak ten 

 or twelve short sentences'. 



The London Zoological Society purchased its first 

 three specimens of this Parrot in 1865, and has con- 

 tinued to add others at comparatively short intervals 

 ever since. Both this and the preceding are well- 

 known show birds, for which their brilliant colouring 

 and apathetic behaviour render them eminently suit- 

 able. As they are always likely to take a prize, this 

 helps to counterbalance their high market price. 



CERAJI ECLECTUS (Eclectus cardinalis).. 



Smaller than the preceding, and of a purer, darker 

 green ; the blue on the tail restricted to the sub-ter- 

 minal portion of the lateral feathers and the external 

 web of the outer one, the terminal yellow band nar- 

 rower; upper mandible red tipped with yellowish, under 

 mandible black ; cere greyish-black ; feet blackish ; 

 irides golden-yellow. Female smaller than the preced- 

 ing species, with the red on back and wings duller ; the 

 blue primary-coverts narrowly edged externally with 

 green ; tail tipped with bright red tinged with yellow ; 

 under tail-coverts also red, the longer ones more or less 

 yellow; beak and feet black; irides yellowish. Hab., 

 Amboyna, Ceram, and Bouru. 



In an article on the coloration of the young in Eclectu-" 

 (TIi<> Ibis, 1890, pp. 28, 29) Dr. A. B. Meyer says : " Mr. 

 Hieronymus paired a female of E elect u* cardinalis 

 (Bodd.) from Ceram with the male bird which had been 

 productive with the female of E. roratus, and got the 

 following results :- 



1888. First deposit, 2 embryos. 



Second deposit, 2 embryos. 



Third deposit. 2 unimpregnated eggs. 



Fourth deposit, 2 youinj hi rt/.~\ which died after 

 one or two days. 



Fifth deposit, 1 green male (which was reared) 



and 1 embryo. 

 1889. First deposit, 2 embryos. 



Second deposit, 2 unimpregnated eggs. 



Third deposit, 2 imimpregnated eggs." 



Dr. Meyer is trying to prove that the young males 

 are green and the young females are red from the nest, 

 in contradiction of Dr. Gadow's assertion that the young 

 are " reddish but not yet green." The experiments of 

 Hieronymus are of interest to the aviculturk-t as show- 

 ing how rarely the breeding of the species is successful 

 unpared with the failures. Dr. Russ isays that a 

 male of the Ceram Eclectus went to nest with a female 

 of the Red-sided species in his bird-room, but the latter 

 was so excitable and spiteful that every trifling dis- 

 turbance caused the destruction of the eggs an<1 tiny 

 nestlings. He tells us that it is extremely rarely im- 

 ported. Price 100-130 marks for the pair. It is not 



