Notes on Mrs. Johnstone s Lorikeet. 87


There appears to be little or no outward difference that I

could discover between the sexes, but about April last they

paired off and their happy home was broken up for a time.

Fighting, screaming, and confusion was the order of the day

until each pair kept a perch or corner of the cage to themselves.

One odd male had to be removed altogether or undoubtedly

there would have been murder. At this time they added a sweet

warbling love song to their usual calls, and their love dance was

really amusing if somewhat absurd. At these times the males

swayed backwards and forwards 011 the perches with all feathers

ruffled, and uttered a blowing noise. One pair (the pair Mrs.

Johnstone now has) eventually ruled the cage, and this caused

the weaker pairs to forget minor differences and chum somewhat

together, but their compact was not lasting and they sometimes

forgot themselves until their natural enemies stepped in and the

down-trodden ones were friends again in face of the common foe.

Several eggs (four I think in all) were dropped in the cage and

broken, so I have no doubt that Mrs. Johnstone will be able to

breed her namesakes next year if she gets them through the

present winter, which I think she is sure to do in her beautiful

new aviaries at Burrswood. Given sufficient space I have no

doubt that several pairs would nest together in harmony, and

perhaps like Budgerigars do so more readily. They ought to

thrive well in England so far as climate is concerned. During

February and March I kept a record of the temperature at my

camp on Apo, and at six o’clock in the morning I often found it

as low as 34° Fall., while the highest mid-day temperature in the

shade was 62°. This was an isolated reading, for it more often

reached only 56° and 58° Fall. This was the dry season during

the N. E. monsoon, but in July and August the temperature

would doubtless be somewhat higher.


At night I found the Eish-lish all slept together crowded

into one corner at the bottom of the cage, with their heads to the

wall. I often heard little squabbles going 011 in the night as one

probably tried to get a warmer spot and pushed others out. No

doubt in their wild state they sleep in this manner in the holes of

trees for the sake of mutual warmth during the cold nights in

the high altitudes which they inhabit.



