THE



147



Bvtcultural /IIbaga3tne t


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



New Series. —VOL. III. — No. 5 .—All rights reserved. MARCH, 1905.



THE BLACK LORY.


Chalcopsittacus ater.


By Mrs. Johnstone.


Being the happy possessor of an example of this rare

Lory, the first, probably, that has ever reached this country

alive, I have been asked to write a few lines on my experience of

him in captivity.


Though by no means brilliantly coloured, Ater has

a decided and most uncommon beauty of his own. At

first sight he is nothing remarkable, being apparently a funereal

black all over, but when in the sunshine or in a bright light, it

can be seen he is really a deep purple or claret colour. The

tail, flight feathers, eyes, beak and feet are black, the rump and

lower back a brilliant shining blue, hardly discernable when

the wings are closed, the under tail-feathers are orange and red.

The adult bird has pointed feathers on the back of the neck,

not unlike the hackles of a cock. The importer, Mr. Walter

Goodfellow, was very proud of having imported him alive and

in good condition. During his journey from N. W. New

Guinea ( Ater's native place) to Singapore, his death was

repeatedly prophesied by the bird dealers he met; one old man

who had been in the trade for years, told him the bird would

never live. “ They are never brought further than the Celebes

and Timor,” and he added, “they eat greedily of what you

give at first, quickly tire of it and soon die.”


The specimen is I believe a cock bird. When his feathers

were coming and were in pointed sheaths on the back and neck,



