All right.^ reserved. May, 1018. 



BIRD NOTES: 



__ THE 



JOURNAL OF THE FOREIGN BIRD CLUB 



The Blue-rumped Parrot 



(Psif til/us incertus). 

 By L. W. Hawkins. 



i\I> first ac(juaintanc(' ^vith this species was in March, 

 1904. when a London dealer advertised a male for sale. On 

 referring- to my books I found the Parrot menfoned in Mr. 

 Seth-Smith"s " Parrakeets," and also in the well known Ger- 

 man book by Dr. Karl Russ. From these I gathered that it 

 was quite a dwarf Parrot, of beautiful appearance, and very 

 rarely to be seen in Euroj)e, its native land being the region 

 of the Malay Peninsula. I asked to see the bird and it was 

 sent on to me. It proved to be in faultless condition and 

 in full colour, but reminded me very much of the Eclectus 

 Parrots by its lack of activity in a cage. I noticed also 

 that the colour of the beak (the upper mandible, being red 

 and the lower one black), and likewise the great patches of 

 red under the wings were quite similar to the same parts of 

 the male Grand Eclectus. I was not surprised therefore to 

 find that Dr. Karl Euss placed the bird as a near relative of 

 the Eclectus Parrots, though only a little larger tlian a Love- 

 bird, 



I wrote to say I would keep the little Parrot, and re- 

 ceived a letter from the dealer saying that I had the only 

 living male in Europe. A female had arrived a few weeks 

 previously and was then on deposit at the Zoo. It was only 

 by a chance that the male had not also found its way there. 

 I was delighted with the bird, and quite expected it would 

 live with me for years as it was apparently quite healthy 

 iind fairly tame. It would allow me to take it in my hand 

 and place it on a finger. But although it made no attempt 

 to bite, it would jump off as soon as released. I could not, 

 however, get it to eat any other seeds than hemp. It would 

 take a large quantity of this, and the effect of it was most 



