THE



Avicultural Magazine


THE JOURNAL OF THE

AVICULTURAL SOCIETY



Fifth Series .—'VoL I.—No. 3 .-—All rights reserved.



MARCH, 1936.



THE TAHITI BLUE LORY


(■Coriphilus peruvianus)


By J. Delacour


Polynesia is the home of several very beautiful Lories which are

particularly attractive, not only by their small size and lovely colours,

but also by their graceful and playful ways. They are really the gems

of the Parrot family. Fiji, Samoa, Washington, and Fanning Islands,

and a few others, possess several delightful species, whose plumage

shows varied hues of scarlet, dark blue, and green, but the Society

Paumoter, and Marquesas groups can boast of the lovely blue Lories

of the genus Coriphilus .


Unfortunately, these birds have now become very scarce. In the

last century they disappeared from the more settled islands, probably

being victims of rats and other pests introduced by man. Very little

is known of their habits, but it seems that they feed mostly on the

flowers of the coco-nut palm, which still are as numerous as ever,

so that it does not appear that their disappearance was due to destruc¬

tion of their natural habitat.


It was thought—even a few years ago—that both species of

Coriphilus were extinct, and it is gratifying to find that is not so,

as several pairs have been brought over to America and to England

lately. It is somewhat surprising, as they are supposed to be strictly



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