Sydney Porter—Notes on Birds of Fiji



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them without mercy”. There are no maize crops, neither are there

farmers on Kandavu. The Hon. F. 0. Dutton, who had kept the

birds, was more to the point when he said, “ I have reason to think that

this and the Masked Parrakeet are peculiarly liable to decline. I .do not

think any specimen has lived very long in captivity and I cannot but

suspect that we have not yet discovered its right diet.” He also tells

us that as long ago as 1888 its price was £5.


To get back to their treatment in captivity. I find that of all the

known Parrakeets these are the most difficult to keep in a state of

perfect health for a lengthy period of time. My experience with the

birds has had to be bought at a very heavy cost. All together I have

possessed twenty-four of these splendid birds, comprising three species,

and at the present moment I have ten birds of two species.


Owing to their superficially resembling some of the Australian

Parrakeets such as the “ King ”, one is rather apt to think that the same

treatment will do for both birds. I did until I found to my cost that

they are probably the most delicate and difficult of Parrakeets to keep

in anything like condition, at least in this country. They cannot

exist on the ordinary Parrot seed. To get to know anything about

their requirements one has to study them in a state of nature. Unfor¬

tunately little has been written about them except data concerning

the collection of skins for museums, so to get to know anything about

these birds one must visit their native habitat. Unfortunately each

species has a very restricted range, some inhabiting islands only a few

square miles in extent. After a brief acquaintance with this bird in

a state of freedom I realized how mistaken I had been in its treatment.

In the first place the climate of Fiji is exceedingly warm and humid ;

during the period I was there the thermometer was seldom below

100° F. It rains intermittently nearly every day and nearly always

during the night : in some parts in the interior of Yiti Levu the rainfall

is something like 300 inches a year, compared with an average of 30

which we get in this country, so that damp moist heat is essential to

their well-being. Birds kept in a dry atmosphere cannot moult out

properly ; the feathers become brittle and break off soon after they are

formed. The birds should be kept outside in the summer having a

warm shelter for the nights. It is essential that during the warm summer



