bird to contain, more than one fully developed egg at a time. After the eggs are 

 deposited in the sand they are no further cared for by the mother. The young 

 birds on breaking the shell work their way up through the sand and run off at 

 once to the forest." Thus far Wallace Knowlton adds to the foregoing (Birds 

 of the World, p, 270):- "That the nesting habits of these Kegapodes are admirably 

 adapted to the structure and present life of the birds is beyond question; but 

 how these habits could have originated in the first place is difficult to un- 

 derstand. Under present conditions, if the birds were required to incubate 

 their eggs, serious difficulties would arise. With an interval of ten or twelve 

 days between the laying of each egg, a period of some two or three months would 

 elapse between the first and the last egg. If the eggs were left until the 

 last was laid, the first ones would be subject to climatic injuries as well as 

 destruction by predatory animals; rvhile if the female began incubation with the 

 laying of the first egg, it would require her to remain sitting for three months, 

 which would be impossible. It has been suggested that these nesting habits may 

 be the survival of a habit enjoyed by a remote reptilian ancestor, but this is 

 too improbable. 



Others think that it arose by the birds covering up and concealing their 

 oggs, v/hich seems not unreasonable; yet if this is true, it is difficult to see 

 how they could have become developed to the point where the young can fly from 

 the time of exit from the shell." All of which proves that there are more things 

 in Polynesis that are dreaired of in all our philosophies. 



The principal defect in a mixed and fragmentary letter like this is that 

 one generally omits the tales that ought to have been told, not to mention the 

 inclusion of stories that might well have been left out. This is true of the 

 Fiji Islands, where we spent six never -to-be forgotten months. At the request 

 of the Colonial Secretary I wrote for the Government Handbook a brief account of 

 the chief birds of that delectable Group. As few of my friends are likely to see 

 this description, I shall quote here what 1 have said about the Fijian Parrots 

 and the Fruit Pigeons:- The Parrots of Fiji are renowned among ornithologists 

 and they have often been described in the literature of natural history, even 

 if they are not quite as popular among colonial planters because of their love 

 of such forbidden fruit as bananas, coconuts and pawpaws. Surely, however, some- 

 thing can be forgiven such lovely creatures . Perhaps the most elaborately decor- 

 ated of them all is the Yellow-breasted Parrot (Pyrrhulopsis personatus), twenty-' 

 two inches in length. He is probably much rarer than he was twenty years ago. 



The writer was unable to locate a single caged specimen among the hundreds 

 of pet parrots to be found on the various islands, although he inserted a re- 

 quest in the Fiji Times and Herald asking owners of the Yellowbreast to allow 

 him to see their pets. In several instances he discovered that this fine bird 

 had been caught and tamed but had died after a caged or confined life varying 

 from five to fifteen years. Their places were not filled because no young par- 

 rots were on the market. It is quite different with the Crimson-breasted 

 species from Kandavu, a large island happily free of the mongoose and but little 

 cultivated by whites. Here the beautiful Pyrrhulopsis splendens, although un- 

 protected by law (on account of his fruit-eating propensities) easily holds his 

 own in spite of the large numbers captured and sold by the natives to tourists 

 and others , 



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