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Sydney Porter—Notes on Birds of Fiji



The owner of the very fine bird in Auckland very generously

presented it to me, though I was reluctant to take it as I knew how he

prized it. So I left with three birds. The older bird, though tame, would

never play like the two young ones, whose great delight seemed to be

to roll themselves up in the sheets of paper I used for the bottom of the

cages until they were quite hidden ; after hiding for a few minutes like

this they would rush out with a great to-do. I have never had such

delightful creatures, so full of fun and the joy of life. Every day they

bathed, rolling over and over in the water until they looked like drowned

rats. In a few months after landing they moulted out into perfect

specimens. But, alas ! now comes the sad part. One day one of the

young birds got out of a small door in the aviary: whether it opened the

door itself I don’t know, but it got downstairs where the Keas were

being kept while their outside aviary was being built ; in crawling up

the aviary one of them bit its leg off. We did everything we could for

it, but it died after lingering a few weeks. Another bird I sent to a

bird show, where he got the prize for the best bird in the show, but it

cost him his life. The heat, smoke, and the change of atmosphere had

been too much for his delicate constitution, he died the next day. I

never forgave myself for losing him and have never shown a bird since.

I only have the one left now. He doesn’t seem to miss his companions

and is just as ready for a game as ever. There is another one on the way

for me, but whether he will land or not I don’t know. Lories are not

easy birds in the hands of those who know little about them.


The tongue of this bird is very remarkable, it is very long and

fleshy ; at the tip is an arrangement like a miniature sea-anemone,

composed of many fleshy tentacles which, when the bird is not feeding,

are folded in a circle just as a sea-anemone in repose. When feeding or

licking one’s fingers, these are unfolded and have a peculiar muscular

action, and are used for gathering up the honey and pollen of the flowers

upon which this bird feeds. Each tentacle can be controlled separately.

After death they contract and cannot be seen. I have seen the tongues

of many of the Lories, but I don’t think the brush tip reaches such

a development as in this one. With the birds being tame it is very easy

to examine this strange organ. The beautiful ruff is erectile but, contrary

to what one would suppose, it is not lifted straight up from the back



