THE



285



Hvtcultural Afoagasme,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



Third Series —VOL. II. — No 10 .—All rights reserved. AUGUST, 1911.



THE RED-CAPPED PARRAKEET.


Potphytocephalus spurius.


By Hubert I). Astley, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U., etc.

Geographical Distribution .—West and North-West Australia.

Nest .—Usually in a hollow branch of the taller Eucalyptus trees.

Eggs .—Seven to nine; milk-white, ri2by ’87 inches. (Gould).

Native Name .—“ Dja’r-rail-bur’-tang ” (Aborigines).


“King Parrot” (Colonists).


% %


*


The Red-capped Parrakeet—known also by the uneuphem-

istic name of Pileated Parrakeet — is a most gorgeous bird,

differing from others of its family by the unusual shape of its

bill, which gives it the effect of panting, there being an open

space between the mandibles, the upper one of which is not

nearly so rounded as in other Parrakeets and the tip of the

lower one resting in a notch of the upper.


I cannot believe that the Red-capped Parrakeet is a true

Platycercus, although Gould has placed it in that family. Voice,

action, shape of head and bill, etc., are decidedly different.


In “ Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds,” Mr. Campbell

writes—“ I enjoyed many opportunities of observing them in the

karri and jarrah forests, where they love to feed upon the kernel

of the native pear ( Xylomelum ) when the fruit opens under

the summer sun.”


My magnificient pair which I still have, and which again

have, I believe, a family of young in a hollow log, were the first

to rear a brood (of four) and win our Society’s medal, in June,

1909, but last year they failed to do so.


I have tried in the accompanying coloured illustration to



