Walter Goodfellow—Some Reminiscences of a Collector 183


jungle and returned again of their own free will. And other cases

where certain birds have been so wild and intractable that for their

own sakes I have turned them loose only for them to return again

and again to captivity. I will give two examples out of many. Both

these occurred up the Maclure Gulf, N.E. New Guinea. Among a

collection I had made was a single Black Lory ( C . ater). It succeeded

in opening its cage door and flew off to join a flock of the same species

which frequented the neighbourhood. This was not near a village

but on a hillside with virgin jungle all around, and the cages were in

a makeshift shed with an open front. One morning four days later

when feeding my birds as usual, a noisy flock of Black Lories flew over¬

head, and one detached itself from the others and without any hesitation

flew straight down to its old cage and tried to get in, which of course

I helped it to do. Among the same collection were two birds of no

great interest or beauty, in fact most people consider them ugly, the

Friar Bird or Bare-headed Honey-eaters. There are several species

of this bird, larger and smaller, but all very much alike ; one is well-

known in Queensland under the name of Leatherhead. The two I had

were so wild and went into such paroxysms of fear when fed, or even

approached, I thought it sheer cruelty to keep them confined any

longer. So one day I left the door of their rather small box cage

open. When I returned some time later I was surprised to find them

still in it, so I caught them up and turned them loose. The cage was

left standing under others with the door open, and when I went to

arrange the birds for the night I found the Honey-eaters back in

their cage and just as wild as ever. The next day the same thing

was repeated, and on the third morning when going off on my rounds

I took them a mile or more away and this time said good-bye to them

for ever. It was not cupboard love unless they preferred the food

I supplied to that which grew all around and others of their own

kind to associate with. There is an allied species of this bird now in

an outdoor aviary at the “-Zoo ”, presented by Mr. St. Alban Smith.

Often when I see this bird it recalls a terrible murder and suicide

which it witnessed, together with a Lesser Lemon Crested Cockatoo

now in the Parrot House. This was in Singapore, when one evening

a Chinese houseboy killed another Chinaman just under where their



