THE NOBLE PARRAKEETS. 201 



breeding. For this reason its natural development has been 

 more closely observed than had ever been done before, notwith- 

 standing the wide range of its habitat, its frequent appearance 

 among us, and its familiarity as one of the best and most 

 anciently known birds. 



The adult male of the Eing-necked Alexandrine Parrakeet is 

 grass-green on the forehead, crown, and sides of the head ; the 

 narrow lores black ; the back of the neck and head is a 

 delicate mauve; round the hinder part of the neck there is a 

 broad rose-coloured band, and on the throat a light yellow 

 band ; the spot on the chin is black, and from it, along the 

 sides of the head, runs a black stripe which grows narrower 

 towards the back of the head ; the back is a yellowish olive- 

 green ; the hinder part of the back, and the upper coverts of the 

 tail, grass-green ; the quills dark grass-green, the outer webs 

 having a narrow light yellow edge, the reverse side ashen-grey ; 

 the two central feathers of the tail bluish-green ; the remainder 

 yellowish-green, the inner web dull yellow, all on the reverse 

 side dull yellow ; all the rest of the under part of the body 

 yellowish-green ; the beak blood-red (or the upper mandible 

 red, the under mandible black; or the upper one a blackish 

 purple-red, the under one black) ; the eyes light yellow, sur- 

 rounded by a featherless red cere ; feet blackish-grey, with 

 black claws. In the adult female : The crown and sides of the 

 head are green, much darker than in the male, with a slightly 

 noticeable yellowish shade ; only a narrow grey band on the 

 neck (the rose-coloured band on the neck, and the black spot on 

 the chin, are absent) ; all the upper part of the body is a faint, 

 dull olive-green, not so bright as in the male ; the hinder part 

 of the back is a dull light green ; the upper mandible red ; the 

 under mandible blackish-grey ; eyes light yellow. The young 

 male resembles the old female, but is a paler green ; it has 

 neither the neck band nor the chin spot, and only gets these in 

 the second year. It is about the size of a small domestic pigeon 

 (length, 14^in. to 15|in,; wings, 4|in. to 6Jin. ; the longest 

 feathers of the tail, 4 Jin. to lOin. ; the outer feathers of the 

 tail, 2in. to SJin.). 



It is a native of Asia and Africa; in the former continent it 

 extends from Bengal to Nepal, Cashmere, Tenasserim, and Upper 

 Pegu, as well as over Ceylon ; in the latter, from Senegal 

 to Abyssinia, to 16deg. north and 7deg. south, it is found to 

 an elevation of 11,000ft. In South Africa it has colonised 



