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NOTE ON CONURUS AERUGINOSUS AND THE ALLIED 



SPECIES. 



Bv T. SALVADOR!, C.M.Z.S. 



REVIEAVING the sjiecies of the geiins Coiiurus for Wytsman's (rciu'ru of 

 . Birds, I Lave found some difficulty in fixing the characters distinguishing 

 the species of the C. aeruginosus and C. pertinax group. Luckily I have had the 

 good fortune to receive from the Hon. 'W . Rothschild a large series of specimens of 

 nearly all the known species of the group. 



In the Catalogue of Birds, vol. .xx., containing the Parrots, only four 

 species of that group were recognised: ('. cactorum, which needs no special 

 remark, ('. aeruginosus, C. ocularis, and C. pertinax. The want of specimens 

 l}reveuted me from recognising some other species. To C. pertinax was 

 attributed by me also C. xantliogenius Bp., Consp. i. p. 1 (1850), described 

 from a specimen said to be from Brazil. It was the good fortune of 

 Dr. Hartert to rediscover the bird in the Island of Bonaire, fixing its specific 

 characters {Ibis, 10ii3, p. 331). Also Mr. Cory {Field Mus. of Nat. Hist., Orn. 

 i. p. 211, I'.MV.)) has received a good series of specimens collected in the Island 

 of Bonaire by Mr. Ferry ; he also rightly notices that the golden-yellow crown will 

 always distinguish adult birds in full plumage, while immature birds have the 

 crown yellow with a few green feathers, or the crown green with a few yellow 

 feathers, and, lastly, young birds have the crown entirely green without yellow, and 

 showing only a trace of orange yellow on the forehead. Specimens of similar 

 descriptions are among the six birds sent me from Triug. 



Of C. pertinax I have received four specimens, three of them from Curasao. 

 This species is very similar to C. xantliogenius, but it never has the head entirely 

 yellow orange, although sometimes it shows yellow feathers among the green and 

 blue ones of the top of the head. One specimen, which lived in the Zoological 

 Society's Gardens, without exact locality, has the bill much stronger, with the hook 

 very long, probably from having been kept in confinement. 



Of C. ocularis I have examined a gnod series of thirteen specimens : in every 

 one of them the green of the crown comes forward as fiir as the base of the bill ; 

 there is no trace of yellow frontal band. The series does nut show much individual 

 variation ; on the contrary, it is very uniform. lu this species the yellow patch 

 under the eyes is sharply defined. 



Of C. aeruginosus I have received from Tring a large series of over thirty 

 specimens from British Guiana (Roraima, Anai), from Margarita Island, and from 

 Venezuela (Ciudad Bolivar, Cumana, Camjios Alcgre, Cariaco, Altagracia, Suapure, 

 Maipnres, San Carlos (if in Venezuela), and V'aleucia). They show some variations ; 

 as already remarked by Count Berlepsch and Dr. Hartert {Nov. Zool. ix. p. Iu7), 

 the specimens from Ciudad Bolivar, as well as those from Snapnre, have mostly 

 more yellow about the eyes. The young birds of C. aeruginosus have the crown 

 green, scarcely tinged with blue, and the yellow circle round the eyes not very 

 prominent — nearly obsolete. 



Very near to C. aeruginosus comes C. arubensis Hart., of which I have seen 



