PSITTACID^ AGAPOKNIS 231 



Genus I. AGAPORNIS. 



Type. 



Agapornis, Selhy, Nat. Libr. Parrots, p. 117 (1836) A. swindereniana. 



Bill moderate, deeper than long, culmen round and smooth ; 

 gonys smooth without median ridge ; cere very narrow but extend- 

 ing all round the base of the bill ; nostrils at the edge of the cere 

 concealed by feathers ; a ring of naked skin round the eyes ; wing 

 long and pointed, nearly reaching the end of the tail ; second 

 primary the longest, first and third about equal to one another ; 

 tail short, less than half the length of the wing, with a subterminal 

 black band on all but the two central feathers and very long upper 

 and under tail-coverts. 



Of this genus, confined to Africa and Madagascar, nine species 

 have been described ; two reach our limits though one of these 

 only just comes within them in the Zambesi valley. The Mada- 

 gascar species (A. cana) appears to have been introduced or to 

 have established itself in Natal near Maritzburg according to 

 Fitzsimmons. 



Key of the Species. 



A. Rump and upper tail-coverts bright cobalt-blue... A. roseicolli^, p. 231. 



B. Rump and upper tail-coverts like the back, green A. liliance, p, 233. 



489. Agapornis roseicoUis. Eosy-faced Lovebird. 



Psittacus roseicollis, Vieill N.Dict.H. N. xxv, p. 377 (1817). 

 Psittacula roseicollis, WaterJiouse in Alexander's Exped. Int. S. A. ii, 

 p. 266 (1838) [Gt. Namaqualand] ; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 231 (1867) ; 

 Finsch, Papag. ii, p. 640 (1868) ; Layard, Ibis, 1869, p. 372 [Lim- 

 popo] ; Gurney, in Aridersson's B. Lamar aland, p. 216 (1872). 

 Agapornis roseicollis, SiricM. and Sclat, Contr. Orn. 1852, p. 156 ; 

 ""sharpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 192 (1876) : Salvadori, Cat. B. M. 

 XX, p. 512(1891); Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1884, p. 395; Shelley, B. 

 Afr. i, p. 141 (1896). 

 Description. Adult male. — Above and below, grass-green ; a 

 broad frontal band, sides of the face and throat rosy red, deepest on 

 the forehead, getting paler on the throat ; quills dusky washed with 

 green, rump and upper tail-coverts, which extend nearly to the end of 

 the tail, cobalt-blue ; tail dark green tipped with a bluish wash, 

 all but the two central feathers with a bright red stripe along the 

 shaft and a subterminal dusky spot; greater under wing-coverts 

 tinged with blue, the others green. 



