A. Hampe—My Blackcapped Lory



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which Koo wanted me to inspect. “ Can he talk,” I asked. “ By

and by,” was Koo’s reply, informing me that the parrot in question

could not talk, but would certainly learn it, as all Parrots are supposed

to do, which are offered to a purchaser in China.


To visit the native city on a hot sultry day is not a real pleasure,

so 1 promised my man that I would come as soon as the weather

was better. After a few days we had cooler and drier weather, and

I hurried to my friend’s shop, where I found the subject of our conversa¬

tion on a wooden stand. If one finds a Parrot on such a stand on which

they are brought from their native habitats, one can be almost sure

that the bird is hand-reared and tame. But the Parrot did not look

at all nice, his wings and his tail were cut, and his whole plumage

was dirty and rough. I saw at once that I had a Lory before me,

but could not feel sure which kind. Lories are charming birds, but

their feeding and keeping entails a good deal more trouble than that

of a seed-eating Parrot. As I had already about a dozen softbills to

care for, I hesitated to buy the bird. Yet he seemed in good health

and tame, and so I could not resist him, and after a little bargaining

without which no deal in China can be completed, I got the treasure

for the moderate sum of $10.0, about one pound English money.

Arrived at home I freed Polly from his coco-nut shackle and put him

in a large bamboo cage. Then I fetched my “ Beichenow ”, an excellent

book to identify a bird. Soon I had found that my new acquisition

was a black-capped Lory from Dutch New Guinea with the scientific

name Lorius viridicrissals, not a common bird, anyhow. The next

day I tried to make friends with Polly, but he would have nothing to

do with me.


In the dealer’s shop I could take him on my hand, but in the big

cage without ring and chain, he retreated into the farthest corner.

“ Well, by and by we shall be friends,” I thought, and I was certainly

not disappointed. After about two weeks he approached me when

feeding him, soon he tried to examine my hand, and after a month he

had become the tamest and most intelligent bird I ever possessed.

As soon as I opened his cage, he flew on my hand or shoulder, and the

latter was for ever his favourite place. I often took him to the little

garden in front of the house. Here he climbed and jumped about in



