76 



lovely little bird (called " Kula " by the natives) is found throughout the Fijian Islands. Its 

 favourite food consists of the flowers of the Erythrina, or those of the cocoa-nut when 

 others fail. The collector, if he wants these little beauties, need only seek some tree in 

 flower on which they feed, and sooner or later every flock in the district will visit it. Layard 

 heard of sixteen being 1 killed off one tree in a morning's shooting. They are trapped in 

 great numbers by the natives for sale to the Tongans and Samoans, who periodically pluck 

 them — their crimson feathers being much used for ornamentation. Europeans find much 

 difficulty in keeping them alive, even for a short period. He was told that the native girls 

 would chew sugar-cane and berries, and allow the birds to feed from their lips. 



The late Professor Moseley, in his ' Notes by a Naturalist,' says : — " The most 

 conspicuous trees, except the screw pines and cocoa-nut palms, at the time of our visit were 

 those of Erythrina inclica *, which was in full scarlet blossom. On the honey of the flowers 

 of this tree a most beautiful Lory (Domicella solitarki) was feeding, and with it some little 

 Honey-birds (Mysomela jugularis). The Lory is one of the most beautiful little Parrots 

 existing, showing a splendid contrast of the richest colours, jet-black, red, and green. It is 

 peculiar to the Piji Islands. It flies in flocks, and hence its name might lead to an 

 erroneous impression." It is thus very clear that the epithet " Solitary " has been somewhat 

 unfortunately adopted as the name of this species. 



Its coloration consists mainly of red and green, with some dark purple-blue and a spot 

 or two of orange-yellow. The pileum is dark purple-blue ; the nape, back, and wdngs are 

 green, save for a transverse band of red across the niantle. The cheeks, lores, throat, and 

 breast are red. The abdomen, flanks, and tibiae are very dark purple-blue, like the pileum. 

 The upper feathers of the hind neck are very long and of a light green colour; just behind 

 them, the lower feathers of the hind neck are also very long but red, forming the red 

 transverse band before mentioned. The lower back, the uropygium, and the upper and 

 under tail-coverts are light green. The scapulars, upper wing-coverts, and quills above are 

 rather dark green. The under wing-coverts are green, except the inner ones, which are red. 

 The quills are dusky beneath. The tail is green, save that the two central feathers have a 

 yellow spot towards the middle of their outer or inner webs, and that the lateral ones have 

 the base of the inner web orange-red ; the tail beneath is golden green towards its apex. 

 The bill is orange, the feet orange or red, and the iris orange. Total length 7'5 inches, 

 wing 5, tail 25, bill 0*65, tarsus - 55. 



The young, Salvadori tells us, have the feathers of the hind neck much shorter. The 

 occiput is tinged with green ; the red feathers of the lower breast are edged more or less 

 with dark purple ; there are no yellow-orange spots on the middle tail-feathers, and the 

 lateral ones have the red marks at the base of the inner web much smaller than in 

 the adult birds. 



Amongst the specimens in the Natural History Museum some are to be found with the 

 yellow spot on the median tail-feathers on the inner web ; but such a spot may occur on both 

 webs or be altogether absent, as these specimens show. Those without the spots are 

 probably, however, young birds. 



* It flowers in August. 



