Part 16

Platycercus Barnardi, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 283.—Lear’s Ill. Psitt., pl. 18.—Bourj. de St. Hil. Supp. Le Vaill. Hist. des Parr., pl. 32.—Wagl. Mon. Psitt. in Abhand., p. 528.

The Platycercus Barnardi is one of the most beautiful of the genus inhabiting Australia; the accompanying Plate, whereon I have endeavoured to portray it as faithfully as possible, will give some idea of the brilliancy of its appearance: but to see it in perfection and to observe its rich plumage in all its glory, the native country of the bird must be visited, its forests penetrated, its brooks and streamlets traced; for it is principally growing on the banks of the latter, either among the “high-flooded gums,” or the larger shrub-like trees along the edges of the streams, that this beautiful species is seen, the brilliant hues of its expanded wings and tail appearing like a meteor as it passes from tree to tree amidst the dark glades of the forest.

The range of Barnard’s Parrakeet extends throughout the great basin of the interior from South Australia to New South Wales, but it seldom appears within the boundary of the latter colony; I never met with it nearer than the Liverpool Plains, from whence northwards towards the interior its numbers increased, and it doubtless inhabits the banks of the Darling and all other rivers of the interior which embogue into Lake Alexandrina, and in confirmation of this opinion I may state that I found it to be equally as abundant in the Great Murray scrub of South Australia as on the banks of the Namoi. It is generally met with in small companies of from five to ten in number, sometimes on the ground among the tall grasses, at others among the high trees, particularly the Eucalypti.

The sexes differ so little in colour that it is difficult to distinguish them, the males are, however, at all times the largest and finest in plumage.

I did not succeed in obtaining the eggs of this species, although it was breeding in all the large trees of the different parts of the country I visited; but I succeeded in procuring some fine living specimens of the bird, a pair of which I brought to England, and which were I believe the first that had been introduced. As cage-birds they are equally as domesticable and familiar as the other Platycerci and are very ornamental and attractive; my ever-valued friend the Earl of Derby did me the honour to accept these interesting birds, and one if not both of them still continue to grace his Lordship’s magnificent aviary at Knowseley.

Forehead red; crown, cheeks, chest, abdomen, central portion of wing, and rump verditer green; occiput crossed by a band of brown, succeeded by a crescent-shaped mark of yellow; back bluish grey; centre of the abdomen crossed by a broad crescent of orange; primaries and spurious wing black; the external margin of each feather, and the tip of the shoulder rich deep blue; two central tail-feathers deep green, passing into deep blue at the tip; the lateral feathers deep blue at the base, gradually fading into bluish white at the tip; bill horn-colour; feet brown.

The Plate represents the two sexes about the natural size.

PLATYCERCUS ADELAIDIÆ: Gould.

J. & E. Gould del et lith. C. Hullmandel Imp. ]

PLATYCERCUS ADELAIDIÆ, Gould. Adelaide Parrakeet.

Platycercus Adelaidiæ, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VIII. p. 163.

Pheasant Parrot, Colonists of South Australia.

This beautiful Platycercus is a native of South Australia, and from the circumstance of my having procured some of my finest specimens in the very streets of that embryo city, I have been induced to give it the specific name of Adelaidiæ. In all probability the bird may in a few years be looked for in vain in the suburbs of this rapidly increasing settlement, as it is too large a species and possesses too many attractions to remain unmolested; indeed it is even now much persecuted and destroyed by the newly-arrived emigrants, who kill it either for mere sport or for the table; for, like the other Platycerci, all of which feed on grass-seeds, it is excellent eating.

The Platycercus Adelaidiæ at first caused me considerable perplexity from its close similarity in some stages of its plumage to the P. Pennantii; as in that species the plumage of the young for the first season is wholly green, which colouring gradually gives place to red on the head, rump, and upper surface, the scapularies and back feathers being margined with the same hue, a character of plumage which soon disappears and gives place to dull yellow on the flanks and olive-yellow on the upper surface, the scapularies and back feathers in the mature dress being edged with yellowish buff and violet. It was only by killing at least a hundred examples in all their various stages of plumage, from the nestling to the adult, that I was enabled to determine the fact of its being a new and distinct species. In all its dimensions it is less than the Pennantian.

I found the present species plentiful on the banks of the river Torrens, throughout its whole course, as well as over all the low grassy hills between that river and the Murray. It was in winter that I visited this portion of Australia, when I found the adults associated in small groups of from six to twenty in number; while near the coast, between Holdfast Bay and the Port of Adelaide, the young in the green dress were assembled in flocks of hundreds; they were generally on the ground in search of grass-seeds, and when so occupied would admit of a near approach: when flushed they merely flew up to the branches of the nearest tree: it is impossible to conceive anything more beautiful than the rising of a flock of adults, spreading out their beautiful broad blue tails and wings, which glittering in the sun present a really magnificent spectacle.

The note is a loud, piping whistle.

The fully adult male has the crown of the head, lores, sides of the neck, breast and centre of the abdomen scarlet, passing into dull yellow on the flanks; cheeks and wing-coverts light lazuline blue; primaries deep blue, passing into black at the extremity; back of the neck dull yellow; back black, each feather margined with yellowish buff, some of the marginations tinged with blue, others with scarlet; rump and upper tail-coverts dull greenish yellow, the latter sometimes tinged with scarlet; two centre tail-feathers greenish blue; the remainder deep blue at the base, gradually becoming lighter until almost white at the tip; irides brown; bill horn-colour; feet greyish brown.

The figures are those of an adult and an immature bird, in course of change from the green plumage to that adult dress of the natural size.

PLATYCERCUS PENNANTII.

J. Gould and H.C. Richter del et lith. Hullmandel & Walton Imp. ]

PLATYCERCUS PENNANTII. Pennant’s Parrakeet.

Psittacus Pennantii, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. i. p. 90.

———— gloriosus, Shaw, Nat. Misc., pl. 53.

———— splendidus, Shaw, Mus., Lev. pl. 7. p. 27.

Perruche à large queue, Le Vaill. Hist. Nat. des Perr., pls. 78, 79.

Pennantian Parrot, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. i. p. 61; vol. ii. p. 83.—Phill. Bot. Bay, pl. in p. 154.—White’s Journ., pl. in pp. 174, 175.—Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. viii. p. 410. pl. 56.—Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. ii. p. 131.

Psittacus elegans, Gmel. Syst. Nat., vol. i. p. 318.—Kuhl, Consp. Psitt. in Nova Acta, vol. x. p. 55.

Platycercus Pennantii, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 280.—Wagl. Mon. Psitt. in Abhand. p. 535. pl. 17.—Selb. in Nat. Lib. Orn., vol. vi. Parrots, p. 173. pl. 25.—Less. Traité d’Orn., p. 208.—Less. Man. d’Orn., tom. ii. p. 146.—G. R. Gray, List of Gen. of Birds, 2nd edit. p. 66.