146 Correspondence


THE RECENT IMPORTATION OF BLUE LORIKEETS


Madam, —It is with the greatest pleasure that I looked at the delightful

and very accurate painting, by Roland Green, of the Tahitian White-throated

Lory (Coriphilus peruvianus) published as a frontispiece to the March issue of

the Aviculture Magazine. I read also with interest the notes, written by

my esteemed friend Monsieur J. Delacour, to accompany that fine plate.


However one sentence in that short article seems to need a few words of

comment. After relating the recent arrival in Europe of several pairs of

these exceedingly rare Lories, Monsieur Delacour says that this “ is somewhat

surprising, as they are supposed to be strictly protected throughout the

French South Sea possessions. But it seems almost impossible to enforce

regulations on such remote and scattered islands ”.


Such statement ps apt to convey the idea that these birds were smuggled

out of the French Etablissements de 1’Oceanie in spite of the protective laws.


From a private letter written to me by another aviculturist, I get that

“ il est douloureux pour des Francais de voir menacees par 1’amour du lucre . . .

des especes que la loi protege, avec raison ! ” This proves that some French

fanciers think that the importation of those birds has been undertaken as a

commercial proposition, in order to make some financial profit.


Being personally responsible for the importation of nearly half the con¬

signment of Blue Lorikeets to Europe, I think that I ought to make clear to

the mind of your readers that our French friends have been in both cases

badly informed about the circumstances of such importation. First of all the

said birds were obtained from Tahiti through a quite regular and special licence

by the Governor of that French possession ; they went also through special

examination by the Government Veterinary at Papete, Society Islands.

The exportation permit has been granted on account of the scientific object

of the experiment purposely to somebody who has done probably more than

anyone else to restore the much persecuted avifauna of Tahiti and to obtain

the passing of regulations for the protection of birds in these islands. As usual,

some people will complain that the licence was granted to foreigners, rather

than to French citizens, but it would be fair to state that since then a number

of French residents in Tahiti tried to keep specimens of Blue Lories alive in

captivity, many birds being wasted in that way solely by lack of proper

treatment. Let us understand that the danger of extermination of those

lovely Parakeets does not come from a few pairs being exported under the

very best conditions to two or three reliable aviculturists, but from the foolish

introduction in their native haunts of rats, mongooses, mynahs, and other

vermin. It is perhaps half a century since the Blue Lorikeet was living in the

island of Tahiti proper, and I really think that it is for the benefit of ornithology

that their behaviour in captivity can be studied before it is too late.


The astonishing amount of trouble and expenditure involved in keeping

a few pairs of these birds in aviaries in their own country, in discovering their

proper management in captivity, in shipping them with the greatest care, and

in conveying that precious consignment to Europe, makes it highly doubtful

in any case as a commercial undertaking, and nobody involved in this experi¬

ment will ever get the slightest financial profit from it. At the present time,

most of the birds are in the hands of two aviculturists, one in England, the

other in Belgium, who will keep them under the best possible conditions

and spare nothing to induce them to breed in captivity.


Having been European Secretary of the International Committee of Bird



