Sydney Porter—Notes from South America



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NOTES FROM SOUTH AMERICA


By Sydney Porter


Notwithstanding the fact that Rio de Janeiro is probably the most

beautiful of all tropical cities and that it is the capital of a state which is

nearly half the size of Europe and also that it contains more species of

birds than any other country in the world, its Zoological Gardens are

the poorest I have ever visited.


In what could be a magnificent park are a few dilapidated pens and

aviaries which contain, besides a few indigenous mammals, such as

jaguars, pumas, coatis, etc., a very poor collection of native birds

under conditions which leave very much to be desired. In a small

aviary were a few desiderata, including three very tame Orinoco Geese,

a bird I have always desired to possess, about half a dozen Great White

Egrets, all in full breeding plumage and far whiter than any I have ever

seen in Europe. Egrets kept in captivity in Europe always lack the

immaculate whiteness of the wild birds. There were also a few White¬

faced Tree Ducks.


In some shockingly small and dirty aviaries were a few Scarlet

Ibis faded almost to a dirty white, a Cocoi Heron, a Boat-bill, and a

Night Heron (Nycticorax obscurus). On a stand resembling that of a

Macaw was a female Frigate Bird ; ofi this the wretched bird

apparently never moved.


One noticed a few indigenous Parrots and, considering Brazil’s

great wealth of Parrot life, the collection was exceedingly poor. There

were various species of Macaws, Illiger’s, Red and Blue, Red and Yellow,

and Blue and Yellow, an odd Amazon of the Blue-front variety, and a

single Festive, but what took my eye was a pair of the very rare and

beautiful Violet-bellied Parrots, birds looking like a small cock Eclectus

Parrot, with brilliant purple-blue underparts. Then there were a pair

of small Parrots of which I did not know the name and I think must

have been quite rare. They were about the size of a Caique and of a

uniform pale mealy green. I recently saw a specimen of this bird in the

Dudley Zoo labelled as an 44 Antipodes Island Parrakeet ” ! ! There

were a great many Yellow-breasted Caiques, a good many together



