Notes on Mrs. Johnstone's Lorikeet. 85


My boy assured me I had killed one, and at length I could see it

hanging by its feet and only after much trouble did we succeed in

dislodging it, and then for the first time I held T. johnstonice in

my hand.


After this I came across them several times. On one

occasion I was startled by a flock suddenly flying with much

noise out of a sunny little place where they had been busy

feeding on the low flowering trees around, and did not betray

their presence until I was close up to them. When feeding,

they maintain complete silence like most of the Parrot family,

Lories in particular; although at other times so very noisy.

Much clear honey runs from their beaks after they are shot,

which makes a great mess of their feathers, unless care is taken

to stop up the beak and nostrils at once with cotton-wool, even

then it is not always effectual unless renewed, for it quickly gets

saturated. This applies to all Lories.


During my first visit to Mindanao, in 1903, I had but little

opportunity to become acquainted with these birds, as my stay

on the volcano was cut short on account of the rainy season

setting in with great violence earlier than usual. In the begin¬

ning of the present year I saw much more of them and succeeded

in obtaining not only a series of skins, but some live specimens

also; four of which reached England alive, one of these

succumbing, though, a few days after its arrival.


The native Bagobo name for them is “ lisli-lish,” after

their call-note. This custom of naming birds by their call is

generally adopted by wild tribes all the world over, and almost

■entirely so by the the Bagobos. Every evening from my camp

on Apo I used to hear them passing overhead in small flocks to

their sleeping-places lower down the mountain, returning again

to the higher forests with the break of day ; but at these times it

was seldom possible to catch even a passing glimpse of them on

account of the camp being much shut in by trees. When flying

they utter incessantly their pretty lish lish.


After leaving Davao on my first visit in 1903 we took on

board at Malabang a number of Moro prisoners of note. One of

them was accompanied by a little boy who had one of these

Lorikeets as a pet. It was fastened by the leg to a stick and was



