Sydney Porter—Notes on Birds of Fiji



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but is erected from each side, forming two fans on the side of the head.

These birds do well on the usual Lory food, that is a teaspoonful of

Mellin’s Food, a dessertspoonful of honey, and half a cup each of fresh

milk and boiling water ; I find the birds will not thrive on tinned milk.

They are also very fond of grapes and very soft pears.


“ Kula,” the native name for this bird, was also given to a certain

operation ; it was also the name given to the strip of cloth which

received the blood, and which in Vanua Levu was afterwards hung from

the roof of the temple or the chief’s house ; possibly it is the blood red

plumage of the bird which caused the natives to give it this name.


The plate of this bird is not a very good one, and it gives no idea

of the vivid coloration, especially the green of the ruff, which is one

of the most brilliant of greens in the whole of Nature.


Peale’s Parrot Finch ( Erythrura pealei)


I had a delightful experience one day. It came most unexpectedly

boo, as most happy incidents do. In the bar-parlours in Suva, the tiny

but very beautiful capital of the Fijian group of islands, one meets

with all kind of flotsam and jetsam of the Southern Seas, and often

quite by accident one meets with many strange and interesting

•characters. Many are the life histories I have heard over a glass or two

of beer, some of them interesting, some otherwise. Everyone is friendly

to a stranger . . . especially if it means another glass of beer ! Quite

often I have heard interesting things about bird life.


One day I chanced upon a strange character, one of those individuals

who, though possessing a wonderful theoretical knowledge, just seemed

to have missed the faculty for putting it to practical use. I always feel

.sorry for such people, for they seem to have been born in the

wrong sphere. He had been everything it was possible to be in the South

;Sea Islands, but like so many others his downfall had been the whisky

bottle. To cut a very long story short, someone had taken compassion

•on him and given him a tiny shack and a few acres far away in the

mountains behind Suva. He asked me to visit him for he said there

were numerous birds and also the rare “ per sonata ” was to be sometimes

seen there. So one day I took him at his word and went. Lack of

.adjectives suitable for printing in the Magazine stops me from



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