102



Sydney Porter—Notes on Birds of Fiji



six came from a white person who had reared them from the nest,

but they were in a terrible condition. The whole six had been kept in

a by no means large packing case and fed solely upon dry maize.

They were poor undersized specimens and the wonder was how they

had managed to survive, especially as they had been kept in a semi-dark

out-house. The other six, though obtained from various natives and

Indians, were in almost perfect condition and one or two were very

tame. I intended bringing two females home with me for the two

cocks I already had in England and also an extra pair, making me six

birds in all. The others I was leaving in New Zealand. Alas, I

was doomed to disappointment, as related in the previous chapter on

the Masked Parrakeet. Not only did I lose all my birds as a result of

the unfortunate voyage from Fiji, but when I arrived home in England

some months later I found that the two cock birds had also died through

failure on the bird-man’s part to give them the proper food ; he had

fed them solely on seed. At all events since then I have become

possessed of seven more of these beautiful Parrakeets. I had no

intention of keeping all the birds but I cannot dispose of any owing to

the foolish restrictions of the Parrot ban, but perhaps I am not alto¬

gether sorry for they make a gorgeous spectacle in their aviary and

are without a doubt the last which will leave Fiji officially. My friend

said in his letter, “ I have just received a very curt note from the

Eijian Government stating that the one who sent me the Fijian Parra¬

keets will not be permitted to export any more Fijian birds. . . .

They state, however, that the Eijian Government has decided that

for the present no more permits to export any Fijian birds will be

issued.” As no birds now come over from Kandavu, and no tourists

and very few white people go to that island, it looks as though we

shall never see any more Red-shining Parrakeets in our aviaries.


Dr. Greene in his admirable book Parrots in Captivity has a chapter

on this bird, but he evidently knew very little about it, neither had he

kept it, which is very evident when he says,It is by no means a delicate

bird and when fairly acclimatized can stand any weather and almost

any kind of treatment ” ! Neither did the famous Dr. Russ know

much about it when he stated that “ the birds do much damage to the

maize crops and are consequently hateful to the farmers, who pursue



