2v8 Mr. W. A. Forbes on the 



are variable, whilst E. westermanni, he considers, is probably an 

 individual that has retained \ts juvenile plumage and has been 

 unable to assume its adult colouring owing to captivity. 



Here I must join issue with Dr. Meyer on several grounds. 

 First of all, several examples of each of these condemned species 

 have lived at various times in the Zoological Gardens of London 

 and Amsterdam, and no noteworthy difference has been detec- 

 ted in these specimens. Again, specimens of both species have 

 lived for considerable periods at Amsterdam without undergo- 

 ing any change in coloration [vide Finsch, I. s. c.) . Moreover 

 Parrots, as a rule, including those of the present genus, do re- 

 markably well in captivity, and show no tendency to lose or 

 to fail to acquire their brilliant colours or to retain their 

 immature dress. Eclectus cornelice and E. westermanni can 

 hardly be man and wife, owing to their disparity in size (the 

 wing of the former being given by Finsch as 9" 5'", of the 

 latter 7" 8'" to 8" 5'", and other measurements in proportion) . 

 Hence we may conclude that in the former case the male, in 

 the latter the female, remains to be discovered, as well as the 

 exact habitat of each. When we reflect on the little know- 

 ledge we still have of the great mass of New Guinea, as well 

 as of some of the neighbouring islands, it is evident that 

 ample area for such a discovery is still left. This conclusion 

 is strengthened by the fact that certain other Parrots belong- 

 ing to the same region, likewise first described from captive 

 specimens, and undoubtedly distinct (e. g. Lorius tibialis, Scl. 

 P. Z. S. 1871, p. 499, and Trichoglossus mitchelli, G. R. Gray), 

 have their exact habitat still unascertained. The recent dis- 

 covery of Loriinse (a group of which the geographical range 

 coincides remarkably with that oi Eclectus, as has been pointed 

 out by Mr. Wallace) in such unexpected localities as Ponape 

 (in the Caroline group), where Chalcopsitta rubiginosa occurs"^, 

 and Fanning Island, in the mid Pacific f, renders it even pos- 

 sible that an Eclectus may turn up in some equally '' unlikely " 

 locality % ■ 



* Vide Finsch, ' Journal des Museum Godeffroy,' Heft xii. 1876. 

 t Coriphilus kiihli, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 421. 



X Prof. Rietmann's "shining-red Parrots " in Pruadalcanar (P. Z. S. 1869, 

 J). 127) might well be E. corneKoe. 



