28 THE BIRDS OF THE FIJI ISLANDS. 



history, has preserved one of these birds aUve for more than a year, feeding 

 it on wild berries fetched daily from the forest. In uttering its bark it opens 

 its lower mandible wide, and then closes it with a snap, jerking its head at 

 the same moment. It is very fond of the sun, preening its feathers, and 

 'shaking itself together.' If kept in the shade it mopes, and sits with 

 feathers all puffed out, and looking wretched. 



'' Some Europeans declare they have had young birds unable to fly in 

 the orange plumage ; and they tell me the natives say they have taken them 

 from the nest, male and fem.ale being thus coloured. I cannot credit this, 

 and have off'ered £l reward for a pair of nestlings in the orange garb. This 

 alone will convince me ; and I shall then come to the conclusion that this is 

 an abnormal race that is being propagated, like the white one of Procellaria 

 gigantea of the south-west coast of Africa." 



Dr. Otto Finsch says (P. Z. S. 1875, p. 557, in ''Notes on the Genus 

 Chrysoena "), on Mr. Layard's remark that C victor is a phase of plumage of 

 C luteovirens: — '^ I have examined a good series of Chrysoena luteovirens 

 collected by Dr. Graff'e at Viti Levu and Ovalau, and have seen all the 

 changes of plumage from the uniform green dress of the first year (the 

 so-called Pt, felicice^ Hombr.) to the full-grown stage of the ^^ellow plumage. 

 This latter is, no doubt, that of the very old bird, which is likewise distin- 

 guished by a peculiarity in the structure of the feathers not to be found in 

 any other member of the genus Ptilonopus. The small feathers, with 

 exception of those of the head in Chrysoena luteovirens^ are remarkable for 

 their narrowed cylindrical form, reminding one in some respects of those of 

 Xipholena. But this structure is not to be found in Chrysoena victor at all ; 

 so that if one were to take the structure of the feathers solely as a distin- 

 guishing generic character of Chrysoena, C. victor could not be placed in the 

 genus. But as I have shown already (P. Z. S. 1873, p. 733, footnote), the 

 genus Chrysoena differs from Ptilonopus chiefly in having no shortened and 

 narrowly pointed first quill. In this character, as well as in the shortness of 



