104 Sydney Porter—Notes on Birds of Fiji


showers the birds should be prevented from entering the shelter

so that the rain can thoroughly soak their plumage. Indoors in the

winter the birds if they don’t bathe, and some individuals refuse to,

should be sprayed every day with a fine spray. Cold the birds cannot

stand, and to expose them to frosts and undue cold winds is to gamble

with the lives of these rare and costly birds. In their wild state

they seldom leave the hot and steamy forests except to raid the mango

trees of the natives, who by the way seem quite content to let the

birds have their share.


And then, their food. While the Australian Parrakeets live to

a large extent on the dry seeds of grasses and various plants, these

birds live entirely, as far as I could see, on fruit—not the hard dry wild

fruits of the temperate climates, but on such soft luscious fruits as

mangoes, pawpaws, etc. So it is logical that they cannot exist on hard

dry seeds such as we are wont to give them in this country. I find that

the best food is as follows : as a staple mixture to 14 lb. of a good parrot

seed add 7 lb. of large canary seed, 3J lb. of hemp, 3J lb. of white millet,

2 lb. of clipped oats, and 2 lb. of pea-nuts in the shells. In addition

to this they require an abundance of ripe fruit, sweet apples, ripe pears,

ripe bananas, cut up into small lengths with the skin left on; they are

also particularly fond of the small sweet green grapes which can be

bought so cheaply in the autumn ; green corn in the ear such as maize,

wheat, oats, etc. ; groundsel, sow-thistle, lettuce, peas in the pod, etc.

Mine are given, every other day, half a sponge cake per bird which is

soaked in beaten-up egg and milk, sometimes with a drop of brandy

in, and on the days when they don’t get this I give a good insectivorous

mixture, mixed with grated carrot and chopped hard-boiled egg. It

is also essential that the birds have fresh twigs to bite up : mine are

given branches from apple trees and hawthorn with the berries on.


Given this food and well looked after they will live for years,

becoming in time very tame and affectionate. Two birds which I

possess can talk quite distinctly and one evidently knows what he says.



