246 THE SPEAKING PARROTS. 



wing-coverts, and the bend of the wing, blue ; the largest under 

 wing-coverts black ; the tail edged with black on the inner web 

 and wholly black on the reverse side ; the throat, sides, thighs, 

 and under tail-coverts green ; the front of the throat and breast 

 deep yellow ; the front part of the belly darker yellow ; the 

 hinder part of the belly orange-yellow ; the beak black ; eyes 

 orange-red ; the feet and claws black. It is fully the size of a 

 crow (length, 18^in. to 18 Jin. ; wings, 8|in. to 9^in. ; central 

 feathers of the tail, 8§in. to 9 Jin. ; outermost tail feathers, 45in. 

 to 5fin.). 



The Fiji Islands are its home, and there, accordingly, are 

 found the largest and most beautiful of the Platycerci — the 

 Bed Shining and the Masked Parrakeet. It is said to inhabit 

 only some of the islands. Grilffe states that he saw the 

 Masked Parrakeet in company with the Eed Shining Parra- 

 keet in the mangrove bushes, in the swamp along the shores 

 of the rivers, where they agreeably enlivened a scene otherwise 

 devoid of animal life. 



In the year 1848, Gr. R. Gray described it from a live bird 

 in a menagerie, but until Peale gave an account of it, the 

 ornithologists (for instance, Schlegel) were much in error as to 

 this variety. They took it to be the female or the young of 

 one of the other Shining Parrakeets. We have no further 

 details of its life in captivity. The zoological gardens show 

 it even more rarely than the species before described, and only 

 the very best private collections contain a specimen. Messrs. 

 Wiener, of London, Scheuba, of Olmlitz, and Baron Comely 

 in the Castle of Beaujardin, near Tours, lately announced 

 that they have each a Masked Parrakeet. In the aviary of the 

 last-named it keeps in excellent health at a temperature of 

 8deg. C. I have seen specimens of this Parrakeet on several 

 occasions in the menagerie of the dealer, Mr. Karl Hagenbeck, 

 and in the wholesale shop of Miss Hagenbeck. In the latter 

 collection I heard it speak loudly and clearly ; with this 

 qualification, these birds appear more valuable than many 

 others. 



