Part 18

The sexes during the first year are not to be distinguished from each other, but when fully adult, the female is smaller in size and less brilliantly coloured than her mate.

Holes in the large gum-trees afford a natural breeding-place. The eggs, which are laid in September and the three following months, are pure white, and six or eight in number, one inch and two lines long by eleven and a half lines broad. When the young are first hatched they are covered with long, white down, and present an appearance not very dissimilar to a round ball of white cotton-wool.

I found this species very abundant on the banks of the Tamar, and in one instance I saw hundreds congregated at a barn-door among the straw of some recently-thrashed corn, precisely after the manner of the Sparrow and Pigeon in England.

Forehead crimson; crown of the head and back of the neck pale yellow, each feather very slightly margined with brown; space under the eye dull crimson; cheeks blue; back and shoulders dark olive-black, each feather edged with green; middle of the wings blue; the basal half of the primaries blue on their external edges, the remainder blackish brown; rump and two middle tail-feathers green, the remainder of the tail-feathers dark blue at the base, lighter towards the tip; under surface of the body yellow; bill flesh-colour; feet greyish brown.

The adults of both sexes are very similar, but a considerable difference exists in birds of different ages, the young of the year being greenish olive with a slight tinge of blue on the cheeks, wings, and outer tail-feathers, and a faint indication of the red mark on the forehead. As they advance in age they gradually assume the plumage of the adult, which is not fully accomplished until the second or third year.

The Plate represents fully adult sexes of the natural size.

PLATYCERCUS FLAVEOLUS: Gould.

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

PLATYCERCUS FLAVEOLUS, Gould. Yellow-rumped Parrakeet.

Platycercus flaveolus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 26.

I have no other information to communicate respecting this beautiful Platycercus, than that it is an inhabitant of New South Wales, and is abundant on the banks of the rivers Lachlan and Darling. The bird was first sent to this country by Captain Sturt some years since, when he presented a beautiful example with several other rare birds to the Zoological Society of London. Since that period Major Sir Thomas L. Mitchell has introduced several other specimens to England, and I am indebted to this gentleman for the only one in my cabinet. I also saw in the Museum at Sydney several specimens of this little-known bird, which had been collected by Sir Thomas during his expeditions to the Darling, &c. In all the specimens here mentioned little or no variation in their plumage is observable—a circumstance, which induces me to suspect, that, like the Rose-hill Parrakeet, the young are clothed in a similar character of plumage to the adults, or if not, that they gain the full colouring at a very early age: the sexes offer no external differences.

Forehead crimson; cheeks light blue; crown of the head, back of the neck, back, rump, upper tail-coverts, and all the under surface pale yellow, the feathers of the back being black in the centre and pale yellow on their outer edges; middle of the wing pale blue; spurious wing and the outer web of the basal portion of the primaries deep violet-blue, the remainder of the primaries dark brown; two central tail-feathers tinted with green at the base, passing into blue towards the tip; the remaining feathers have the basal portion of their outer webs deep blue, passing into very pale blue towards their tips; the inner webs brown for a greater or less portion of their length, the extreme tips of all being white; bill light horn-colour; feet dark brown.

The Plate represents a male of the natural size.

PLATYCERCUS PALLICEPS: Vig.

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

PLATYCERCUS PALLICEPS, Vig. Pale-headed Parrakeet.

Platycercus palliceps, Vig. in Lear’s Ill. Psitt., pl. 19.

Moreton Bay Rose-hill, Colonists of New South Wales.

This elegant species of Platycercus, which, up to the present time, has been more frequently seen alive in a state of captivity than preserved in our zoological collections, is a native of the eastern coast of Australia, and is tolerably numerous at Moreton Bay, where all the specimens I have seen were procured. It is known in Sydney by the name of Moreton Bay Rose-hill, an appellation bestowed on it from its near alliance to the Platycercus eximius. The specific name of palliceps has been applied to this species from the light colouring of the head, which amounts, in some specimens, to a total absence of colour: this however, I think, may be attributed to the effects of exposure to light, since, in recently moulted birds, there is always a delicate tinge of yellow pervading the crown; the delicate blue on the cheeks also appears to be affected by the same cause, though not to so great an extent.

It bears confinement remarkably well, and is very docile and familiar, which, added to its very elegant plumage, renders it a general favourite.

Crown of the head and cheeks either wholly white or pale gamboge-yellow; in some specimens also there is a fine line of scarlet crossing the forehead, and the lower part of the cheeks is deep blue; feathers of the nape, back and scapularies black, broadly margined with gamboge-yellow; rump in some instances greenish blue, in others this part is strongly tinged with gamboge-yellow; primaries and secondaries blackish brown, with the base of their external webs deep blue; greater and lesser wing-coverts, and the shoulders, both above and below, beautiful blue; that part of the wing nearest the body black; all the under surface verditer-blue, with the exception of the under tail-coverts, which are scarlet; two middle tail-feathers greenish blue; the basal half of the remainder being blackish-brown on their internal webs, rich deep blue on their outer webs, and the terminal half delicate pale blue, passing into white at the tip; bill horn-colour; irides blackish brown; feet dark mealy brown.

The sexes differ in no respect in outward appearance, with the exception of a slight superiority of size in the male.

The Plate represents a male and a female of the natural size.

PLATYCERCUS EXIMIUS.

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

PLATYCERCUS EXIMIUS, Vig. and Horsf. Rose-hill Parrakeet.

Psittacus eximius, Shaw, Nat. Misc., pl. 96.—Ib. Zool. of New Holl., t. 1.—Kuhl, Consp. Psitt. in Nov. Act. &c., vol. x. p. 54. No. 87.—Lath. Ind. Orn. Suppl., p. xxi.

Perruche omnicolore, Le Vaill., Hist. Nat. des Perr., p. 29. pl. 28.