Sydney Porter—Notes on Birds of Fiji 93


mountains are far too steep for cultivation and the general vegetation

is too wet to burn.


None of the Indians who possessed Parrakeets seemed anxious to

part with them, even though they were kept under very bad conditions,

and there was a general “ take it or leave it ” attitude, and often if one

attempted to argue about the price they would refuse to sell it at all.

Often we heard of birds belonging to Indians. The actual deal had

nearly always to be done by proxy, and we always offered to take the

birds at the price mentioned or even higher, but when it came to the

question of delivery very few of the birds ever materialized, though I

knew the people had them. Very often they would say that the bird

belonged to a child of two or three years old and it refused to sell it.


It may really have been that the Indians thought I was a govern¬

ment agent trying to find out who had the birds.


There was one old woman in the fruit market in Suva who had

four lovely Eed-shining Parrakeets. They were beauties and in

perfect condition owing to, no doubt, being fed on fruit. We went

day after day to see if she would sell, but no price would tempt her, so

at last we told her that the only plan was for us to steal them, and with

true Eastern philosophy she said, “Ah well, if you steal them I can't

help it : it’s the only way you will ever get them because I shall never

sell them.”


Nearly all the ground birds on Viti Levu and Yanua Levu have

nearly been exterminated and a once common Megapode is now com¬

pletely extinct. The imported Eed-vent Bulbul and the Common

Mynah are now superseding the ordinary native birds. In fact, about

Suva, these are the only two birds to be seen.


The forests on the smaller islands have not been fully explored

and I think that there are still many new species of birds to be found.


The wonderful Flame and Golden Doves are all too rare on most

of the islands, though I met the King of Ban and he told me that the

Flame Dove was still found on his island and he invited me to come

over and procure some, but owing to lack of time I was unable to do this.


The Fijian Parrakeets seem to stand a far better chance of survival

than most of the other Parrakeets of the world, providing that the

bloodthirsty mongoose is kept from their islands.



