102 Birds I Have Kept. 



in fact, and like the latter bird, has for some time past been 

 bred of various colours; namely, pale green, with scarcely 

 any sign of the characteristic undulations to which the bird 

 is indebted for so many of its names; yellow, without a trace 

 of markings of any kind, except the little patches on the 

 throat and the sides of the face which are blue, and blue- 

 black in the wild bird, but dead- white in the yellow do- 

 mesticated variety. The latest and rarest ''sport" is a blue 

 Budgerigar, which I have not seen, but which, I am credibly 

 informed, has been recently produced in Germany: while a 

 variety has also been obtained, by careful selection, that rivals 

 in size the Turquoisiae. In my own bird-room I have had 

 some specimens scarcely larger than a Redpoll hatched by 

 very juvenile parents. 



The ordinary Budgerigar measures about seven inches in 

 length, of which three and a half inches belong to the tail. 

 The principal colour of the bird is bright green: the breast, 

 back, and belly are of this hue, but the top of the head and 

 the throat are primrose yellow; the cheeks are of the same 

 colour, but each small feather is crossed by two or three fine 

 circular lines of black, that impart a greyish appearance to 

 the face: several small spots of blue are situated just below 

 the cheeks, and the lower series are of such a deep tint, that, 

 at first sight, they might be mistaken for black. The back 

 of the head, the neck, shoulders, and wing* coverts are yellow, 

 marked with undulations similar to those on the face in regard 

 to colour, but of larger size; the flight feathers are greenish 

 black, edged with yellow on the outer aspect of each: the 

 two long central tail feathers are deep blue, and the others, 

 broadly barred with yellow, are greenish blue at their ends 

 and tips. The beak is greyish white, and the feet and legs 

 are grey. 



In the male the cere, or bare place surrounding the nostrils, 

 is bright blue; while in the female it is white, or whitish 

 blue in young specimens, and brown in those that are mature. 



