Capt. Beavan on vnrious Indian Birds. 41 1 



149. Pal.'eornis ROSA. Rose-headed Parrakeet. 



In Burmah, on the 18th September, 1865, I noticed a large 

 Parrakeet (which, however, might perhaps have been P. alexan- 

 dri) common in flocks, with a loud and melancholy cry. It 

 roosted on the islands in the Salween and Gyne rivers, near 

 Moulmein. However, as I could not procure a specimen, I am 

 not certain. On the 11th October, I shot one of a pair of Par- 

 rakeets which I observed on the top of a high cassia tree in 

 Col. Brown's garden, which I referred at the time to P. schis- 

 ticeps ; but Dr. Jerdon on seeing my description said it was most 

 likely to have been P. rosa. 



This specimen, by dissection a male, measured as follows: — 

 length 12, wing 5*25, tail 6-5, tarsus '4375, bill from front 

 •625, extent 15 inches. Dr. Jerdon, in his description of 

 P. schisticeps (B. Ind. i. p. 261), says that the tip of the bill 

 and the lower mandible are yellow — a statement apparently 

 quoted from Horsfield (Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. p. 615). In my 

 specimen the lower mandible is of a dark slate-colour, and the 

 tip of the upper mandible barely darker than the rest, which is 

 yellow, darkest near the base of the bill. The measurements 

 of my specimen do not agree well with those given by Dr. Jerdon 

 for either species ; nor does he mention Burmah as a habitat of 

 P. schisticeps, although it is included by Dr. Mason (* Burmah/ 

 &c., 8vo, Rangoon : 1860, p. 179), who speaks of it as a " Par- 

 rakeet common in Nepaul, where it was found and described by 

 Mr. Hodgson. It was supposed to be confined to the ' Sub- 

 Himalayan region exclusively,' but it was recently shot in Pegu 

 by Major Phayre." I was inclined before dissection to think 

 that my specimen was possibly a female of P. rosa ; but the sex 

 being male, and the fact that its mate (there were only a pair), 

 seen through a powerful glass, had the same coloured head as 

 this, made me consider that it belonged to the true P. schisticeps. 



150. Pal^ornis schisticeps. Slaty-headed Parrakeet. 

 Specimens in the flesh from Simla measui-e as follows : — 



