Part 21

Mȍon-dark? Aborigines of Port Essington.

Smutty Parrot, Residents at ditto.

This is a very abundant species on the northern and north-western coast of Australia, inhabiting grassy meadow-like land and the edges of swamps, mostly feeding on the ground upon the seeds of grasses and other plants, sometimes single or in pairs, but more frequently in families of from ten to twenty in number. It frequently utters a rapid succession of double notes resembling ‘trin-se trin-se.’ Its flight is low, somewhat rapid and zigzag, seldom farther prolonged than from tree to tree. Specimens of this bird given me by my friends Captain Grey and Mr. Bynoe from the north-west coast differ somewhat in plumage from those killed on the Cobourg Peninsula, the concentric bands on the breast are much finer, the extreme margins only of the feathers being black; I have one specimen also with the whole of the crown of the head of a deep blood-red, and others with more or less of this colour. That this kind of plumage is unusual is proved by the fact of numerous specimens from Port Essington not exhibiting it, and had I not seen others from the north-west with black crowns (with the exception of the band across the forehead), I should have regarded as specific what I now look upon as a mere local variety, or possibly a very old bird.

This beautiful species has been named after Dr. Robert Brown, as a just tribute of respect for the high reputation he has attained as a scientific botanist.

Crown of the head, lores and ear-coverts deep black; cheeks snow-white, bounded below with blue; breast and rump pale yellow, each feather slightly fringed with black; feathers of the back deep black, with a broad margin of pale yellow; wing-coverts, outer webs of the secondaries and base of the primaries rich blue, inner webs of the primaries and secondaries deep black; under tail-coverts scarlet; centre tail-feathers green at the base, passing into blue on the margins and at the tip; lateral feathers deep blue at the base of the outer webs, brown at the base of the inner webs, and then pale blue terminating in white, with black shafts; irides blackish brown; bill light horn-colour, passing into blue at the base; legs and feet blackish brown.

Young birds are similar in colour, but have all the markings dull and indistinct; as the individual approaches to maturity the breast becomes ornamented with a number of crescent-shaped markings of black and pale yellow, and as the bird advances in age the yellow increases in extent and the black nearly disappears.

The three figures in the Plate represent two males and a female; the crimson-headed bird drawn from a specimen collected on the north-west coast, and the other male from one procured at Port Essington; they are all of the natural size.

PLATYCERCUS PILEATUS: Vig.

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

PLATYCERCUS PILEATUS, Vig. Red-capped Parrakeet.

Platycercus pileatus, Vig. in Zool. Journ., vol. v. p. 274.—Lear’s Ill. Psitt., pls. 21 and 22.—Wagl. Mon. Psitt. in Abhand., pp. 491 and 528.

Psittacus purpureocephalus, Quoy et Gaim. Voy. de l’Astrolabe, pl. 22.

Djȁr-rail-bȕr-tang, Aborigines of the lowland districts of Western Australia.

Blue Parrot of the Colonists.

The Platycercus pileatus differs so much in the colouring of its plumage from every other species of the great family of Parrots, as to render it one of the most remarkable yet discovered; in the form and structure of its bill there is also a remarkable deviation from the true Platycerci, and it will probably be hereafter found that this modification of its form is adapted to some especial purpose, in which case this bird might with propriety constitute the type of a separate genus; in the absence, however, of all information respecting its habits and economy, I prefer retaining it in the genus in which it was placed by Mr. Vigors, its first describer.

The Red-capped Parrakeet is an inhabitant of Western Australia, where it is rather numerously dispersed over the country from King George’s Sound to the northern limits of the colony. It is usually seen in small families feeding on the ground, but upon what particular kind of food it subsists has not been ascertained. The breeding-season extends over the months of October, November and December. The hollow dead branch of a gum- or mahogany-tree is the place usually chosen by the female for the reception of her eggs, which are milk-white and from seven to nine in number, about an inch and an eighth long by seven-eighths of an inch broad. The young during the first year of their existence are of nearly uniform green; at the same time, the hues which characterize the adult are perceptible at almost any age.

The females are never so finely marked as the males, neither are they so large or so gracefully formed.

The flight of this species, although swift, is not of long duration, nor is it characterized by those undulating sweeps common to the other members of the genus Platycercus.

Its voice is a sharp clucking note, several times repeated, in which respect it also offers a marked difference from the other Platycerci.

Forehead, crown and nape deep maroon red; cheeks yellowish green, becoming more yellow on the sides of the neck; back, scapularies and greater wing-coverts deep green; rump jonquil-yellow; edge of the shoulder, spurious wing and base of the outer webs of the primaries rich deep blue; remainder of the primaries and the secondaries deep black; breast and abdomen blue; vent and under tail-coverts scarlet; two centre tail-feathers yellowish green, deepening into black at the tip and crossed by indistinct bars of a darker tint; lateral feathers green at their base, passing into black on their inner webs, and into pale blue on the outer, both webs becoming blue towards the extremity of the feather, and fading into white at the tip; irides dark brown; bill horn-colour; legs and feet dull brown.

The Plate represents an adult male and female of the natural size.

PSEPHOTUS HÆMATOGASTER: Gould.

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

PSEPHOTUS HÆMATOGASTER, Gould. Crimson-bellied Parrakeet.

Platycercus hæmatogaster, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 89.

This species of Parrakeet is an inhabitant of the interior of New South Wales, where it frequents the borders of the rivers Namoi and Darling; in all probability its range extends far to the northward; but, so far as is yet known, it has never been found in Southern or Western Australia; I met with it in tolerable abundance in the neighbourhood of the Lower Namoi, where it appeared to give a decided preference to those parts of the plains which were of a loose mouldy character, and with which the colour of its back so closely assimilates as to be scarcely distinguished from it. Like the other members of the family, it is mostly observed in small flocks, and occasionally in pairs, feeding upon the seeds of the various grasses abounding on the plains. It is only when the bird after a short flight alights on the branches, that the splendid scarlet of the belly, relieved by the yellow of the sides, is seen to advantage; when thus seen, however, it is a truly beautiful object, and is scarcely excelled by any other species of the group.

I did not ascertain any particulars respecting its nidification, but we may easily suppose that it breeds in the districts above mentioned, as I met with it there in the height of the summer.

The male has the forehead and face ultramarine blue; crown of the head, upper surface, sides of the neck and the chest greyish olive-brown, washed with yellow on the rump and upper tail-coverts; lesser wing-coverts mingled verditer-green and blue; greater coverts rich reddish chestnut; basal half of the external webs of the primaries and secondaries, and edge of the wing rich indigo-blue; under surface of the shoulder light indigo-blue; inner webs and tips of the primaries dark brown; apical half of the external web of the primaries fringed with grey; two centre tail-feathers light olive-green, passing into deep blue at the tip; the remainder deep blue at the base, largely tipped with white, the blue gradually blending with the white on the external web; upper part of the abdomen and flanks primrose-yellow; centre of the abdomen and under tail-coverts crimson-red; irides dark brown; nostrils and feet mealy brown; bill horn-colour.