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affectionate towards anyone she knows well. When taken from the cage on

my hand, she utters shrill cries of joy and shews her pleasure by dancing

and bowing in the quaintest manner. She hops up my arm with curious

side-long hops, and arrived at the shoulder, gently nibbles the ear or hair.

The filamented tongue is constantly in motion, being inserted into every

crack and crevice, and being used to explore every strange objedt. She

shews much ingenuity in undoing the fastenings of her cage, and having

escaped, always makes for the bananas ; but she will always come on to my

hand when called. She has never attempted to talk, nor does she imitate

the other birds. I believe that Purple-capped Lories rarely talk : at any rate,

I have never met with a talker. She is most playful, and will lie on her

back on the palm of the hand to be tickled under the wings, kicking her

legs in the air like a kitten. She is fond of hanging head downward from

the finger, and allows herself to be carried about in this attitude. She

never sleeps on her perch, but lies on the floor of the cage at night.


On the question of the most suitable food for Lories, various

conflicting opinions are held. The most generally accepted doctrine is

that of the eminent aviculturist, Dr. Russ, who teaches that “Lories may

only be considered as likely to live if the) 7 take hemp and canary seed as

their chief food.” He afterwards, however, qualifies this statement by

adding “good soft fruits are absolutely necessary for all Lories.” Dealers in

this country, when selling a Lory, usually recommend an exclusively seed

diet. My own experience is, that Lories and Lorikeets will not live very

long on seed alone. The Lorikeets undoubtedly may be habituated to a

dietary consisting principally of canary seed, if a moderate allowance of

fruit be also given; but a Purple-capped or Ceram Lory requires a much

larger proportion of soft food. Such a bird may certainly be trained with

some trouble to live principally or even entirely upon seed; but it will soon

be found that the excreta contain a large quantity of undigested seed, and

sooner or later the result will be death from an apopleCtic fit. Even

Swainson’s Lorikeet, if fed entirely upon canary seed, as is usually advised,

is very liable to die suddenly from the same cause.


My Purple-capped Lory has a tin of canary and hemp seed in her

cage, and she eats some of this, but not very much. Every morning she has a

saucer of bread soaked in boiled milk and made rather moist. Later in the

day she has fruit; half a banana, a fig. some grapes, or a piece of apple;

she is exceedingly fond of all kinds of fruit. She also likes boiled rice,

potato, and sponge cake. This diet is not a very elaborate or expensive

one, but it is all that is needed to keep a Lory in perfect health. A supply

of clean sharp grit must of course be given, and plenty of clean water both

for drinking and bathing.


It must be admitted that Lories kept in this w 7 ay require a good deal

of attention in the matter of cleanliness. A metal cage is essential : the

ordinary square parrot cage does w 7 ell enough, and the floor should be

covered with a thick layer of pine sawdust, which must be daily renewed.

I consider this an important point in keeping birds of this description.

Sawdust is very absorbent, and the turpentine which it contains is of great

value in preventing any unpleasant smell. At one time I used sand in

the cages of my Lories, but found it of little use. The cages required

cleaning twice a day, and even then could not be kept sweet in warm

weather. With a good layer of pine sawdust, however, a daily cleaning is

all that is necessary to keep the cage of a Lory perfectly sweet.


The Purple-capped Lory is somewhat impatient of cold; but a

temperature of 50 degrees will keep it in health, and an occasional fall to

45 degrees will do no harm. Like most birds, it will do better in a bird

room in which a tolerably even heat is maintained than in a sitting room

where the variations of temperature are, as a rule, considerable.


All the Lories are spiteful toward other birds, and the Purple-cap is

no exception to this rule. It is therefore a more suitable bird to keep in a

cage as a pet, than in an aviary with other birds.



