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Sydney Porter—Notes on Birds of Fiji



Perhaps it is as well that we shall never see these lovely creatures

in our aviaries again, for it is sad to think of these brilliant gems torn

from their proper setting in those earthly paradises of sun-drenched

coral strands and tall green waving palms, being imprisoned for life

behind the bars of some inadequate parrot cage in a miserable northern

climate where the sunshine of a whole year does not amount to that

of one single month of their native islands. I for one shall be glad

to think of these gorgeous birds’ freedom, living out their own lives in

those far distant isles of enchantment in the blue southern seas where

one day perhaps when my ship comes in I may travel again, never

to return.


The Masked Parrakeet (Pyrrhulopsis per sonata)


As mentioned before, my chief object in visiting Yiti Levu was to

try to obtain examples of the supposed nearly extinct Parrakeet which

is confined to that island. Various agents had been endeavouring to

obtain specimens before I arrived on the island. Upon my arrival

I realized that the quest was wellnigh hopeless.


I went on several trips into the interior in search of this bird,

hoping that I might catch a fleeting glimpse of it in its native forest,

but my luck was certainly out this time.


After a great deal of questioning and tracking down owners of

Parrakeets I found that a gentleman in Suva had one. Would he sell

it ? Why, yes. The price ? Oh, about eighteen shillings or a pound.

I only just managed to control myself and say, “ Yes thanks, I’ll have

it ” ! But like horses, there are Masked Parrakeets and Masked Parra¬

keets. This bird only just managed to be one at all. I was told that

he was moulting, but I knew better. He was kept in a wooden cage

similar to those in which Thrushes and Blackbirds are to be seen on

the walls of country cottages in England. The top was of corrugated

iron. That may not sound very dreadful, but when I mention that the

temperature in the sun is often over 160° F. and that the cage was

in the sun all day and that I couldn’t bear my hand on the top, and

that wretched bird was fed solely on hard maize and what appeared

to be poultry meal, and that it had no bath or water of any sort with

which to wet its plumage, its state may be imagined ; especially when



