96 . Sydney Porter—Notes on Birds of Fiji


is putting it mildly. I gave up a first-class passage on one of the large

luxury liners, which ply between America and New Zealand, for a

berth on a cargo boat belonging to the same line who advertise that

they carry eight passengers on the “ intermediate liners By doing

this it gave me more time in Fiji and I thought that I should have

better accommodation for the birds and be able to look after them

better. I was sadly disillusioned—the ship was literally a “ floating

slum ” as far as accommodation was concerned. The captain ordered

the birds (I had sixteen Parrakeets, two Lories, three Pigeons, and four

Rails) to be put in the most exposed position on the deck. We struck

a cyclone the first day out, which continued until we almost reached

New Zealand.


I had a bad dose of malaria, and through tearing my leg on some

rusty wire in Viti Levu had contracted blood poison. There was no

one to look after the birds, so twice a day I had to crawl out of bed

literally on my hands and knees, to look after them. It was almost

impossible to get any water on the boat either to wash or give the

birds. I was too ill to clean the birds out and the wind was so strong

that it blew both the food and water out of the food pots in the cages.

The captain refused to have the birds moved.


Fotunately, before leaving Suva I managed to get a supply of

sweet corn or maize in the ear, and upon this the Parrots

mainly lived. But alas ! the journey was too much for the Masked ;

as we reached Auckland I could see that he was dying. Mr. Rowland

Hutchinson was on the docks to meet me in, so was Dr. Hopkinson

who was then visiting New Zealand, and we soon had the birds up in

Mr. Hutchinson’s bird rooms. Every attention was given to the

Masked but he didn’t last long. Had I known the beneficial effects

of beaten-up egg, milk, and brandy I might have saved him.


Gradually all the splendid Kandavu Island Red-shinings went as

well; we did everything possible for them, at least Mr. Hutchinson did y

but all to no avail, one by one they dropped off until only three were

left when I was ready to sail. I took these with me but they only

lingered for three weeks. It was the same with all of them, lung

trouble, pneumonia contracted on the ghastly voyage from Fiji. It

was heart-breaking to think of all these splendid birds gone after I



