Abstract
C halcopsitta atra has long been one
of my favorite birds and has
been underrated as an avicultural subject.
One of the reasons people choose
to keep lories is because they are
exceptionally colorful birds. So why
choose a black species?
For me they have two outstanding
attributes: intelligence and, in females,
the potential for great affection and
gentleness towards their human friends.
Add to this all the other wonderful
characteristics of lories in general, and
the result is a very desirable bird, provided
that you can overlook its one fault
- a very harsh voice. Lories have a special
appeal for me and I find it hard to
understand why more people do not
keep them. The usual explanation is that
their care is too demanding. This is
not true in terms of how many minutes
per day need be devoted to each pair
but they usually need to be fed twice
daily.
Black Lories have been in my care
continuously since the 1970s, so this is
one of the species which I know very
well. I kept and bred them in my own
collection in the UK; then, during the time
I was curator at Loro Parque, Tenerife,
two pairs produced about three lots of
young annually. During the past six years,
I have also had the beautiful subspecies
insignis, the Rajah Lory, in my care in
the breeding center at Palmitos Park,
Gran Canaria. Both pairs currently have
young; one pair bred for the first time
in 1992 and the other pair in 1993.
We are unlikely to see any more
wild-caught Black or Rajah Lories. It is
certainly easier to appreciate captive-bred
birds, especially those which have been
kept in close association with people,
as they quickly become tame. In contrast,
mature wild-caught birds can
remain aloof for years. Some wildcaught
birds, no doubt trapped younger,
become quite fearless. However, from
my comparatively limited experience of
wild-caught Rajah Lories, they are more
timid. I know from their coloration
that those at Palmitos Park were young
when they entered the collection, yet
they have never become tame. Their offspring, hand-reared and parent-reared, are very confiding, however, and quite delightful in every way.
Among the lories, few take longer to mature than wild-caught Cbalcopsitta species. They do not breed before four years and their plumage takes longer to attain full brilliance. The Rajahs which came to Palmitos Park in 1988 had quite dull red on thighs and forehead until 1994. The brilliance of the plumage in these areas has increased greatly during the past year. As so often happens in parrots, captive-bred young color up more quickly and three year old birds are nearly as brightly colored as their parents.
The nominate Black Lory Cbalcopsitta atra atra has no brilliant colors to display. It is not entirely black, as the underside of the tail is muted red and yellow. Its length is about 12 in. and its weight about 230g to 240g. The males I have had in my care have been noticeably larger, with a bigger head and beak and a much more assertive personality. The Rajah Lory is slightly more slender in build and I have not discerned any difference in male and female body size. Indeed, for a long time I believed the male of one of our breeding pairs had been wrongly sexed as a female because the female's first six clutches (over a period of 16 months) were infertile! I recently weighed four young ones: eight months, 200g; 10 months, 209g; 30 months, 209g and 11 months, 233g. Possibly these weights represent three females and one male.
The Rajah is, in my eyes, one of the most beautiful of all lories. The glossy vinous purple-black of the body scarlet forehead, lores, thighs, under wing coverts and bend of the wing, and the yellow and red underside to the tail, give it an exceptional beauty. One absolutely must see it in sunlight to appreciate the unusual beauty of its body plumage. It is not black. Immature birds nearly resemble Black Lories except perhaps for a few scattered red feathers mainly on the head and neck. At a few
months old the under wing coverts are dull brick red. At this stage they can easily be confused with Bernstein's Lory Ca. bernsteini which has the under wing coverts just tinged with red or vinous and a small area of red on lores and at the bend of the wing. In the Black Lory the rump is faintly tinged with blue but in adults of bernsteini and insignis it is deep blue.
In captivity, Black and Rajah Lories are nectar- and fruit-eaters. Unlike the Yellow-streaked, the birds in my care show little enthusiasm for vegetables, even fresh corn. Pear, apple and cactus fruits are their favorite. I give branches laden with seed-bearing cones of Casuarina exquisitifolia as often as possible to all the lories. It is a natural food of some species and nearly all captive lories welcome its appearance, even if only to chew the bark and needles. The young ones destroy everything and become very excited when they see me bearing branches.
Black and Rajah Lories can be very prolific, producing three nests of young per year. I advocate that the pair should be allowed to rear at least one youngster annually. Indeed, one of our pairs is so prolific that I leave the young one with them for several months after it has left the nest. I prefer this method of giving them a rest as I never like to remove a lory's nest-box. It is too important for them as a roosting site. I leave young lories of many species for months with their parents and have never had a case of aggression with the larger species - only with the smaller ones (and then mild because the young one was removed at the very first sign). I recommend leaving young with the parents for at least five weeks after they have left the nest because they learn important aspects of behavior from their parents. This will, I believe, help to ensure their own success as parents. Last year I left a single Black-capped Lory Lorius lory erytbrotborax with its parents while they reared the youngster of the next nest. If I wanted a bird for breeding, this would be the one I would choose.
Black and Rajah Lories lay two eggs which hatch after 24 or 25 days. The chicks weigh 6g on hatching and have longish (but not thick) white or gray down. They are banded with 7.Smm internal dimension rings at 16 or 17 days. The rate of development is approximately the same whether parent-reared or hand-reared, although early weights are much higher in parent-reared young.