THE FLAT-TAILED PARRAKEETS. 245 



to fly about freely and to return regularly to the cage in the 

 evening. 



This parrakeet has been imported alive several times since 

 1864, but always only singly or in pairs. In the year named 

 it appeared in the Zoological Gardens in London, and afterwards 

 in those of Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, &c. It has been 

 shown now and then at exhibitions, and was to be seen in the 

 collections of Messrs. Wiener, Eittner-Bos, Blaauw, Scheuba, &c. 

 The travellers tell us that it is gifted with speaking talent. A 

 magnificent Shining Parrakeet which Miss C. Hagenbeck exhibited 

 in the Ornis Exhibition, at Berlin, in 1880, was not only un- 

 commonly tame, but a thorough good speaker. Eittner-Bos 

 describes this species as awkward and clumsy in the cage : 

 *' With the exception of its gorgeous plumage, I have failed to 

 find any pleasant qualities in it, nevertheless I believe that all 

 these large parrakeets would develop a completely different 

 character if they were kept in a large aviary, where they had 

 room to fly about." Mr. Scheuba had a Eed Shining Parrakeet 

 which was so tame that it came voluntarily to perch upon the 

 hand. 



CHAP. CIV.— THE MASKED PAEEAKEET. 

 Psittacus larvatns, Ess. ; seu Psittacus personatus, Gr. 



The Masked Parrakeet (Ger., Maskensittich, schwarzmaskirter 

 Plattschweifsittich ; Fr., Perruche a masque noire, Perroquet 

 masque, Coracopse noir ; Dut., Masker Parkief) — Costliness 

 and Rarity — Physical Characteristics — Habitat — In Captivity 

 — Talent for Speech. 



The most stately of all the Platycerci, this is more rare, perhaps, 

 than the Shining Parrakeet, and therefore the more costly. 



It is black on the forehead, front of the head, round the eye, 

 and the lower mandible, so that the face appears as if covered 

 by a mask ; the whole of the upper part of the body is dark 

 grass-green ; the primaries are blue, blackish on the inner 

 web ; the secondaries are green, the inner web edged with 

 black ; all the quills black on the reverse side ; all the upper 



