Part 20

Mȍy-a-duk, Aborigines of the mountain districts of Western Australia.

Rose-hill of the Colonists.

This beautiful little Parrakeet was first made known to science by M. Temminck, who described it under the name of Psittacus icterotis; which fact could not have been known to the late Mr. Vigors when he named it Platycercus Stanleyii, as a tribute of respect to the present Earl of Derby, at that time Lord Stanley; a tribute so merited, that I cannot but regret the necessity of depriving the bird of this distinctive appellation, and of restoring to it that of icterotis, as bound by justice to the first describer. But in still associating his Lordship’s name with this species, in the form of an English appellation, I feel I shall have the acquiescence of all ornithologists.

From the little that is known of the history of this species it would appear that its range is very limited, the colony of Swan River in Western Australia being the only locality in which it has as yet been seen in a state of nature; there, however, it is one of the most common birds of the country, and, except in the breeding-season, may always be seen in large flocks, which approach so near to the houses of the settlers as frequently to visit their gardens and ploughed lands. It generally feeds on the ground, on the seeds of various kinds of grasses and the scattered grain of the farmer; but not unfrequently attacks and deals destruction among the ripe fruits of his garden, especially if they be left unprotected.

If my readers wish to form an idea of the scenery of Australia, they must imagine a country the climate of which is second to no other, clothed with flowering trees and shrubs of the greatest beauty, and enlivened with flocks of hundreds of the attractive bird figured on the accompanying Plate, and numerous other members of the genus of equal beauty, together with the fire-breasted Robins, the lovely Maluri, with their resplendent metallic plumage, and many more of the feathered tribes conspicuous for the brilliancy of their hues and the elegance of their forms: they will then have some slight conception of the enchanting scene which it presents.

Like most other members of the genus, the Platycercus icterotis offers no difference in the colouring of the sexes of the same age. They do not acquire the adult plumage until the second year; during the first year they are green, which colour gradually gives place to the fine colouring of maturity.

Its flight is of short duration, and consists of a series of rather rapid undulating sweeps.

Its note is a feeble, piping kind of whistle, which is occasionally so much varied and lengthened as almost to assume the character of a song.

The eggs, which are six or seven in number and of a white colour, are eleven lines long and nine and a half lines broad; they are deposited in the holes of large trees without any nest.

Crown of the head and back of the neck, chest and all the under surface scarlet; cheeks and thighs yellow; feathers of the back black, bordered with green, yellow, and in some instances scarlet; rump and upper tail-coverts yellowish green; shoulders and outer edges of the primaries blue, the inner webs and tips of the latter blackish brown; two middle tail-feathers green; the remaining feathers light blue tipped with white, with the basal portion of a darker blue tinged with green; bill light horn-colour; feet and legs dull ashy brown; irides blackish brown.

The young birds of both sexes are nearly of a uniform green, becoming parti-coloured as they advance in age; the scarlet of the crown and abdomen, and the yellow of the cheeks gradually taking the place of the green colouring of youth.

It is questionable whether the female, like the female of P. eximius, ever attains the fine plumage of the male.

The Plate represents the two sexes of the natural size.

PLATYCERCUS IGNITUS: Leadb.

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

PLATYCERCUS IGNITUS, Leadb. Fiery Parrakeet.

Platycercus ignitus, Leadb. in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 8.

In the year 1837 Mr. John Leadbeater received from the district of Moreton Bay a beautiful Parrakeet, of which the accompanying Plate is a representation. This specimen, the only one I have seen, is the most singular and anomalous bird that has ever come under my notice; for while on the one hand it exhibits many features which would lead one to believe it to be merely a diseased variety of some other species, on the other there is sufficient decision in some of its markings to warrant the opinion that it is distinct; I allude particularly to the decided mark of white at the base of the primaries and secondaries, and to the white mark on the under-coverts of the wing: it is true that in the youthful state of most of the other Platycerci the same parts have a faint mark of white, but it is thrown off as the bird approaches maturity, and is never so distinct as in the specimen here figured. As I have mentioned above, only one specimen has yet been seen; future research will doubtless lead to the discovery of others, until when its specific value must remain a matter of uncertainty. It is most nearly allied to the Platycerci eximius and splendidus.

The example from which my figures were taken adorns the Museum of the Zoological Society of London, to which it was presented by Mr. John Leadbeater.

Crown of the head, ear-coverts, rump, breast and under surface of the body scarlet; cheeks white; feathers of the back black in the centre, and margined with intermingled scarlet and yellow; middle of the wing deep blue; primaries and secondaries white at the base, forming a very broad and decided band, and brown at the tip; tertiaries green; four middle tail-feathers washed with scarlet, the remainder white at the base, and then blue, gradually fading into white at the tip; bill yellowish horn-colour; feet dark brown.

The figures represent the bird in two positions of the natural size.

PLATYCERCUS BROWNII: Vig. & Horsf.

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

PLATYCERCUS BROWNII, Vig. and Horsf. Brown’s Parrakeet.

Psittacus Brownii, Temm. in Linn. Trans., vol. xiii. p. 119.

Psittacus venustus, Kuhl, Nov. Acta, vol. x. p. 52.

Brown’s Parrot, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. ii. p. 139.

Platycercus Brownii, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 282.—Lear’s Ill. Psitt., pl. 20.