THE TYPICAL PARROTS. ^ 159 



experiment in India in order to propagate the beautiful 

 yellow variety. If specimens of this could not be got, 

 careful breeding from heavily-splashed birds, such as 

 can often be had in Calcutta cheaply, might very possibly 

 produce it before long. 



Some specimens of this Parakeet talk very well indeed ; 

 the only talking individual I have ever seen myself was a 

 hen, so it would appear that sex does not matter much. 

 It is almost the oldest foreign cage-bird known in Europe, 

 as it was kept by the ancient Romans ; the parrot whose 

 funeral ode was written by Ovid was evidently a bird of 

 this species, since the poet describes it as green with a 

 red bill. A great many are sent to England yearly, and 

 sold very cheaply. 



A very similar species to the Ring-necked Parakeet is 

 the bird commonly known to dealers as the Rock Parrot, 

 and in books as the Alexandrine Parakeet {Paloeornis 

 nepalensis). This, however, is a much larger bird than 

 the ordinary Ring-neck, and has, in both sexes and at all 

 ages, a large dark red patch on the wing, which will dis- 

 ting-uish it at once. It varies a good deal according to 

 the district it inhabits, but the different varieties can 

 hardly be ranked as species, though this is commonly 

 done. Classing all these large Ring-necked Parakeets 

 together, the Alexandrine may be said to be found almost 

 all over India, Ceylon, and Burma and also extends to 

 the Andamans, where it is very large and bright coloured. 

 The only yellow specimen of this bird I have ever seen 

 came from these islands, but it was not a very pure 

 yellow. The Alexandrine Parakeet is known to the 



