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NOTES ON SOME PARROTS. 



By the HON. WALTER ROTHSCHILD. 



(Plate XVIII.) 



1. Eos bomea (L.). 



1758: Psittacus borneus, Liniiaens, S'jst. Nat. ed. X. p. 97. Entirely and 

 solely based on the long-tailed scarlet Lory of Edwards, IV. pi. 173. Habitat 

 erroneously : Borneo ! 



I fully agree with Salvador! {Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XX. p. :;!3) that Edwards's long- 

 tailed scarlet Lory refers to this species. Finsch {Papageien II. j). 911) enumerates 

 it among his doubtful sjjecies; but this is hardly necessary, as there is no other 

 Parrot to which it could be referred, and as the figure and description suit very well, 

 especially since adnlt specimens have sometimes greenish tips to the wings and the 

 tail " a little tinctured with green," as Edwards says. It is thus in accordance with 

 modern rules of nomenclature to accept " Psittacus borneus.'' The next name 

 available would be Psittacus ckinensis Miillei', 177(i. There has been no discussion 

 about the meaning of this name, but it has not been accepted by the authorities on 

 Parrots (Finsch. Salvadori, Reichenow) because the species is not found in China. 

 Then follows P/<ittacus ruber Gmelin, 1788, tlie name now generally used for this 

 species, in the form of PJos rubra. I prefer, liowever, to call it L'os bomea, inadver- 

 tently spelt Eos borneus on the plate. 



In the beginning of this year I received two specimens of a red and blue Eo.i 

 from the Kei Islands, sent by Mr. Heinrich Ktihn. I saw at once that they diflered 

 from all specimens in my specially complete collection of Parrots, and was struck 

 by the large blue patch behind the eyes, the great extent of blue on the scapulars, 

 and the red under tail-coverts. I at first thought they were Eos semi/arcafa, the 

 more so by looking up the key to the genus Eos iu Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. XX. 

 p. 19. I found, however, that Mr. Kilhn's two birds did not agree with E. semi- 

 lanata, so I unfortunately described them as a new species under the name of Eos 

 kidini. I subseijuently found in Dr. Otto Finsch's Die Papageieii that he had 

 described this bird as schlegeli, refusing to accept Rosenberg's name of Eos 

 bernstcini, as he considered the description insiiificient. Both these names were put 

 down as synonyms in the Cat. Birds Brit. JJus. Later in tlie year I received from 

 Mr. Kiihn si.\ further specimens, which I was forced to identify as Eos bomea; then 

 there arose in my mind a doubt, for the two specimens I had called Eos huhni 

 were not (|uite alike iu all details, and on ilr. Hartert carefully comjjaring our 

 series of Eos with those in the British Museum we discovered that EjOs schlegeli 

 (= E. beriisteini = E. M/mi) was only the young of Eos bomea. My mistake was 

 made because in the Catalogue of Birds and elsewhere the descriptions of tlie young 

 of Eos bomea are wholly inade(|uate, and in the various " Keys lo tlie species "' 

 the blue postocular patch refers at once to E. semilarxata. Although specimens 

 with the blue postocular patch are among those eiuimerated in the list of specimens 

 in the Catalogue of Birds, no mention of it is made, but only the more or less 



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