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Sydney Porter—Bermudan Notes



seed heads while still green and milky are a great joy, so is a fresh head

of sunflower, though he despises the dried seed. Brazil nuts are first

favourites at all times, walnuts if fresh and moist, and he always has

a dish of shelled pea-nuts by him. He is fond of milk, which he drinks

from a teaspoon and rarely spills, a lump of sugar dipped in very

weak tea is a rare delight, and thick cream spread on bread or toast,

but he is not a very large eater and, as one of his admirers says, he

never “ eats for greed


Of course, he is mischievous like all his tribe. He loves to be taken

into the greenhouse where, if not closely watched, he nips off flowers

and bites the hearts out of bulbs, pulls up seedlings, and generally

wreaks havoc. His safety valve in winter is the wood basket, in which

he will “ carpenter ” all the afternoon quite happily.


We say “ he ”, but I have a strong suspicion that “ she ” is the

right pronoun. During April and May the bird evidently wants to

nest and goes through the antics of a bird which is desirous to pair.

In this case it begins with a crooning noise gradually intensified until

it becomes ear-splitting shrieks, while the bird lies flat on arm or

shoulder, and only leaves off when panting and exhausted. An attempt

was made to pair it with another kindly lent by the Zoological Society,

but the two would have nothing to say to each other, possibly they

were both of the same sex.


He, for I must call “ him ” so, is emphatically one person’s bird.

His owner can do anything with him but he is frantically jealous of

anyone touching her while he is on her shoulder. He is civil to the

gardener and cook but bullies the parlourmaid, who is afraid of him

and he knows it. He condescends to sit in the kitchen when his

mistress is away but not for a moment after her return, which is

greeted with shouts of joy.



BERMUDAN NOTES


By Sydney Porter


Bermuda differs entirely from the West Indies in lacking a distinctive

avifauna such as those islands possess. The probable explanation of

this is that the islands in their present state are of comparative recent



