Part 34

PALAEORNIS ECHO NEWTON.

Palaeornis echo Newton, Ibis 1876, p. 284.

Palaeornis eques Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. XX, p. 442 (1891).

Description of Male: Green, the occiput tinged with bluish; a narrow black stripe from the nostrils to the eyes; broad black mandibular stripes passing down and across the sides of the neck where they meet a pink collar, which is interrupted on the hind neck; under wing-coverts yellowish green; central tail feathers scarcely tinged with bluish; tail below dark yellowish grey; upper mandible red, under mandible almost black with only a brownish tinge in places. Iris yellow. Naked skin round eyes orange. Wing 7.5 inches, tail 8.75 inches, bill 9 inches. The female differs by the absence of the collar, no bluish tint on occiput, and the bill entirely blackish.

It differs from P. torquatus in the incomplete collar, darker green colour and broader tail feathers. This bird is still found in the interior of the island, but is rare and apparently on the verge of extinction.

Habitat: Mauritius.

Three specimens at Tring, four in the British Museum.

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CYANORHAMPHUS ZEALANDICUS (LATHAM.)

Red Rumped Parrakeet Latham, Syn. I, p. 249, No. 50 (1781).

Psittacus novae seelandiae Gmelin (nec. Sparrm.), S.N. I, p. 328, No. 83 (1788).

Psittacus zealandicus Latham, Ind. Orn. I, p. 102, No. 58 (1790).

Psittacus novae-zealandiae Kuhl, Consp. Psitt. p. 44, var. 1 (1820).

Psittacus erythronotus Kuhl, Consp. Psitt. p. 45, No. 67 (1820).

Psittacus pacificus var. No. 3, Vieillot, Enc. Méth., p. 1387 (1823).

Platycercus pacificus, part. Vigors, Zool. Journ. I, p. 529 (1825).

Platycercus erythronotus Stephens, Gen. Zool. XIV., p. 129, No. 9 (1826).

Conurus phaeton Des Murs, Rev. Zool. 1845, p. 449.

Platycercus phaeton Des Murs, Icon. Orn. pl. 16 (1845).

Cyanorhamphus pacificus Bonaparte, Rev. et. Mag. 1854, p. 153, No. 184.

Cyanorhamphus erythronotus Gray, Hand-list II, p. 140, No. 8029 (1870).

Cyanorhamphus forsteri Finsch, Papag. II, p. 270 (1868).

This bird has received a variety of names owing to the adult bird being very different to the younger and quite young birds. Adult, forehead black; stripe from lores passing through eye almost to hind-neck scarlet; rump scarlet; back and breast dull green; cheeks, head, neck, belly, under-tail coverts and wing coverts, bright green. Flight-feathers blue on outer, brown on inner, webs; bend of wing blue; tail feathers blue, edged with green.

Young differs in having a dull bluish-black forehead, brownish head, back mixed brown and green, rump and eye stripe chestnut red, and the underside greyish green.

This species was confined to the Society Islands, where it was obtained during Cook's Voyage by Ellis and by Forster, and lastly by Lieutenant de Marolles in 1844. We only know for certain at the present day of the existence of two specimens, one in the British Museum, ex Massena collection, whose origin is doubtful, and one in Paris, collected by Lieutenant de Marolles. What became of the other two specimens of the latter's collecting, and of Forster's and Ellis' specimens, I cannot say.

Habitat: Society Islands.

Evidently extinct. {70}

CYANORHAMPHUS ULIETANUS (GM.)