Bird Notes from the Zoological Gardens.



7 i



length without breadth lends itself to a bird’s claw. With the

digression I close. Quite recently, screams from a kitchen filled

the household with alarm—the terror-stricken cook could only

point to a partly-dressed fowl. Quiet having been obtained

the cause proved to be a freshly-swallowed snake, 172 inches

long, partly within the unfortunate chicken’s gizzard !


To return to the Blackbirds, and in self extenuation let me

just add they were duly liberated and will I hope live to a good

old age.



BIRD NOTES FROM THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.


By The Curator.


The most important additions during the past month con¬

sist of three very rare Lories deposited by Dr. Philip H. Bahr,

namely, a Green-tailed Lory (Lorius chlorocercus') from the Solo¬

mon Islands, and a pair of extremely beautiful Ruffed Lorikeets

( Calliptihis solitarius) from Fiji. The first of these is not new

to the Society, a pair having been purchased as long ago as 1867,

from which Wolf made a coloured drawing which was published

in the Proceedings for that year. The prevailing colour of the

bird is red, the wings and apical half of the tail green. The top

of the head and a patch on each side of the neck black, while

the breast is crossed by a band of yellow.


More beautiful still, and quite new to the Society’s collec¬

tion, is the Ruffed Lory or Lorikeet, which Latham called the

Solitary Lory—a name which is most inappropriate, as the species

is gregarious and anything but solitary. In Fiji it is known as

the “Kula,” and is said to be trapped in numbers by the natives

for the sake of its bright feathers which are used for the personal

adornment of the Tongans and Samoans. The F'ijians keep

them in captivity, and the native girls are said to feed them on

sugar-cane which they (the girls) chew, and allow the birds to

take from their lips.


The Ruffed Lory is about the size of the Ornate Lorikeet,

but has a short rounded tail. It is green on the upper parts,

bright red below with a very dark blue cap and a band of the

same colour on the abdomen and thighs. Its chief beauty, how-



