Part 25

Turcosine Parrakeet, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 89.—Ib. Gen. Hist., vol. ii. p. 185.

La Perruche Edwards, Le Vaill. Hist. des Perr., p. 68, female.

Psittacus chrysogaster, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. i. p. 97.

Orange-bellied Parrot, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., p. 62.—Ib. Gen. Hist., vol. ii. p. 186.

Orange-bellied Parrakeet, Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. viii. p. 468.

Psittacus Edwardsii, Bechst. in Lath. Uebers. der Vog., p. 74.

Nanodes pulchellus, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 277.—Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xiv. p. 118.

Lathamus azureus, Less. Traité d’Orn., p. 205.

Euphema pulchella, Wagl. Mon. Psitt. in Abhand., pp. 493 and 542.

All those who have traversed the “bush” in New South Wales will recognize in this lovely species an old favourite; during my own rambles my attention was constantly attracted by its beautiful outspread tail and wings as it rose before me. Its sole food being the seeds of grasses and of the smaller annuals, it spends much of its time on the ground, and appears to evince a greater partiality for stony ridges than for the rich alluvial flats, which is probably owing to the former producing a greater supply of its favourite food. When flushed it flies off to a short distance between the trees, perches on some dead branch for a time, and if impelled by hunger, returns to the ground almost immediately. I have never seen this species congregated in large flocks like the Euphema chrysostoma and E. elegans; but have either met with it in pairs, or in small companies of six or eight in number.

I did not succeed in finding a nest of this species, although I doubt not that during my visit to the district of the Upper Hunter it was breeding everywhere around me; but Mr. Caley states, on the authority of the natives, that it lays eight white eggs in the hole of a tree without any nest but the decayed wood.

The sexes differ so little in colour, that dissection must be resorted to to distinguish them.

Forehead, stripe over the eye, cheeks, shoulders, and lesser wing-coverts rich metallic greenish blue; crown of the head, back of the neck, upper surface and flanks bright olive-green; a bright spot of chestnut-red at the insertion of the wings; primaries and secondaries deep blue on their outer webs, and blackish brown on the inner; chest, centre of the abdomen, and under tail-coverts rich yellow; four middle tail-feathers green, the remainder green at the base and largely tipped with yellow; bill and feet dark brown.

The Plate represents the two sexes of the natural size, on one of the grasses of the Upper Hunter.

EUPHEMA SPLENDIDA: Gould.

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

EUPHEMA SPLENDIDA, Gould. Splendid Grass Parrakeet.

Euphema splendida, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VIII. p. 147.

It is a source of much regret to me, that I am unable to give more than a very slight notice of the beautiful bird that forms the subject of the present Plate. The single specimen from which my description was taken came into my possession in 1840, unfortunately without any other information accompanying it than that it was a native of Swan River; from that period no other example occurred until 1845, when several fine specimens were transmitted to me by the late Mr. Johnson Drummond, who had killed them near Moore’s River in Western Australia, and from whom I should doubtless have received some particulars respecting the habits of this lovely species, had he not been treacherously murdered by a native in his company, while engaged in seeking for materials for this and my other works on the Fauna of Australia.

The Splendid Grass Parrakeet is in every respect a true Euphema, and has many characters in common with the E. pulchella, but differs from that species in the entire absence of the chestnut mark on the shoulders, in the more intense blue of the face, and in the gorgeously rich scarlet colouring of the chest; and is rendered remarkably conspicuous by the brilliant display of the three primitive colours—blue, red and yellow—on its face, breast and abdomen.

The male has the face and ear-coverts deep indigo-blue, becoming paler on the latter; all the upper surface grass-green; upper wing-coverts beautiful lazuline blue; under wing-coverts deep indigo-blue; primaries and secondaries black; the first three or four primaries slightly margined with green; two centre tail-feathers dark green; the remaining tail-feathers black on the internal webs, green on the external webs and largely tipped with bright yellow, which increases in extent as the feathers recede from the centre; chest rich deep scarlet; under surface yellow, passing into green on the sides of the chest and flanks.

The female differs in having the face and wing-coverts, both above and beneath, of a pale lazuline blue, and in the chest being green instead of scarlet.

The Plate represents two males and a female on a branch of Beaufortia decussata, one of the plants of Western Australia.

EUPHEMA BOURKII.

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

EUPHEMA BOURKII. Bourke’s Grass-Parrakeet.

Nanodes Bourkii, Mitch. Australian Expeditions, vol. i. p. xviii.

For a knowledge of this new species of Grass-Parrakeet, the scientific world is indebted to Major Sir T. L. Mitchell, who discovered it on the banks of the River Bogan, during one of his expeditions into the interior of New South Wales. It is particularly interesting, as exhibiting in the crescentic form of the markings on the back, an approach to the style of colouring observable in the single species of the genus Melopsittacus (M. undulatus); at the same time, in its structure it so closely assimilates to the form of the genus Euphema, that I have been induced to place it in that group.