EASTERN BIRDS

Hokitika Guardian, 11 September 1929, Page 8

EASTERN BIRDS

COLOURFUL AND RARE!

(Auckland Paper.)

Squatting on the deck by the break of the fo’castle of the Narbada, at Auckland, Ramchunda, his oily, long locks glistening in the sun, was busy grinding, with pestle and mortar, those aromatic seeds and roots out of which curry is made. A plate beside him was heaped up with a pile of the rich orange-coloured powder. Ramchunda’s ancestors did the same for hundreds of years; and it is certainly much more picturesque than buying one’s curry in a bottle over the counter. At the other end of the Narbada (a much more musical name than her old one of Leitrim) there was another touch of the East—this time of its colourful side. Jn little cages in the wheellion.se were scores of strange and beautiful birds, who, between them

could have made a very good imitation of *an animated rainbow. One larger bird was a vivid slash of crimson, another had a head and shoulders the colour of the golden kowhai flowers, several were in sober black like Charles Lamb at the wedding, others were like bits cut out of a Persian carpet, so delicate and dainty were their colourings—what in the, West we call ‘‘liberty effects.”

Then in other cages, but not so carefully sheltered from the cold, were two crates of Asiatic quail and one crate of chuckor, a handsome Indian partridge with red legs and beak and mottled wings. The sporting birds a.re consigned to the Auckland Acclimatisation Society. Of the quail, lively little chicks most of them, 1.50 survived out of 350, which were shipped at Calcutta, but of the bigger birds, the chuckor did better, 25 answering to the roll call alongside the King’s wharf this morning out of 23 who came aboard at Calcutta.

AVICULTURAL SOCIETY. v i It is the colourful pet birds, however, that are so attractive. They have come consigned to the Avicultural Society of New Zealand, which was formed to • foster interest in foreign birds, and has a considerable membership. The society is also trying to get the different zoos in New Zealand to have a collection of New Zealand birds on view, as at' present not one New Zealander in a thousand has any idea of the birds of his own land, and only rich people can afford to follow them to their bush haunts.

Mr G. Rowland Hutchinson, the secretary of the Avicultural Society, who received the birds in Auckland, says the society was greatly indebted to Mr St. Albyn Smith, F.Z.S., member of the English Aviculture Society, who had sent the birds down, and to Mr Walter Good'fellow, who had selected them. The birds, which came from Singapore, are natives of India, the Malay States and Africa. Singapore is a great bird port for tbe reason thnf. the rich rajahs in that part of the world make cage birds their hobby, and as they have money they can import rarities from all over tbe place.

LORIES AND ORIOLE. Of the birds aboard the Narbada the red lory, the crimson bird, after the style of the king parakeet, is the most striking and he is a fit pet for a rajah in silks and jewels, as they always dress in poems of the mysterious East. Then there is the golden oriole, which is quite as beautiful as its name, wearing its cape of cloth of gold with as much dignity as a. bishop at' a high festival. Then there is the black lory, which, while not a beauty, is a rare bird indeed, and for a pair acclimatised in England anything up to £2O would be paid. The black lory looks like a relation of the kaka, only much smaller built. He is a honey-eating bird, like the tui, and in captivity his diet consists of such infantile nutriment as malted milk, condensed milk and other things on which babies exist. As far as is known none of these three birds mentioned above has previously been introduced into New Zealand.

BLEEDING HEART PIGEON. The other aliens who arrived this morning include some very merry littlemorsels off feather, who do not seem to mind, leaving home. A couple of blue budigans were chattering away as though they' were in the middle of the jungle or wherever they live when at home. They, are beautifully-tinted birds, about the of a sparrow, with pigeon-blue breasts and Frenchgrey dappled backs and wings. There is a cage full of African waxbills, slim little fellows about two inches and a-half long, built for speed, like the 'fusilage of an aeroplane. A handsome and very striking bird is the bleedingheart pigeon. He is dove-coloured and greyish, with a tinge of tawny brown and right in the middle of his fat breast he carries a heart of crimson feathers—an eminently well-named bird. '

QUEER BILL OF FARE. • The giant twhydah is a small-bodied bird, about the size of a canary, and with a long, sweeping tail three times liis own length. It looks like swank, but no doubt there is a reason for his excessively ambitious train. He looks as though he would be more comfortable, or at least better balanced, if he were shingled. Other birds were Java sparrows, blue and white, black-headed nuns, white-heated nuns, and strawberry finches. There are no prima donnas among the scores of birds on the Narbada. The black lory makes a noise rather like a pup who wants to get off the chain, and the best tho others could do this morning was to