Sydney Porter—Notes on Birds of Fiji



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natives. I didn’t realize how tame he was until I reached New Zealand.

On the boat home to England he proved himself a great character.

Every morning he would welcome me with a cheery whistle and wait

for me to let him out of his cage, eventually climbing on my shoulder,

give me a kiss, and be ready to go the round of the other cages.

He was the only Parrot I could absolutely trust, no matter what one

did with him or how one treated him ; he was gentle no matter who

teased him, and how fond the ordinary person is of teasing Parrots or

monkeys ! He took it all with a good-natured resignation. When at last

he arrived in England and was placed in an aviary in my bird-room

he never lost his confidence in the human race.


In spite of every care, and I learnt through bitter experience the

proper treatment of these birds, he never came into perfect feather ;

his flight and tail feathers always seemed to get broken off and for

twelve months he never came into what one would call show condition.

There must be something wrong : it didn’t seem to be the food, as he

was very fat and very lively. Even spraying him every day with water

didn’t make much difference, so I had an outdoor aviary built, with

no shelter from the rain, though each evening he was brought back into

the bird-room. At first he was only too glad to be back under a friendly

Toof. As the summer passed he refused to come back: with a loud “ No,

no, no ” he rushed round very much like a Pheasant. The gait of a

Pyrrhulopsis Parrakeet on the ground is entirely different from any

other Parrakeet. On their long legs they can run very quickly and they

carry the long tail held high above the ground.


The warm rain and the sunshine worked wonders and by the autumn

he was in perfect condition and looked very different from the derelict

of some months previous. He loves to be taken notice of and it is only

when several people are taking notice of him that he talks. As “ Vea

Yea Levu ” was too cumbersome and no one ever remembered it, we

called him “ Jimmie ”. On being asked his name he would always

reply “ Joey ”. On being told it was “ Jimmie ” he would always

answer, “ No, no, no ! Joey ! ” He has quite a large repertoire but

seldom uses it. Once, when a party of children from the village school

were visiting the aviaries, he excelled himself, saying many things I

never heard before or since.



