156 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXIV. 



NOTES ON THE PLUMAGE OF AUSTRALIAN 



PARROTS. 



By G. a. Keartland. 



{Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, I'Mh Jan., 1908.) 



It is accepted as a general rule that variation in plumage and 

 markings are important factors in determining the species to 

 which a bird belongs, just as structure and habits govern the 

 genus. Yet to this rule there are exceptions. There are few 

 groups of birds which furnish such an interesting study as the 

 Psittacidae. Some genera, such as Melopsittacus (Warbling 

 Grass-Parrakeet), Polytelis (P. barrabandi, Green Leek, and P. 

 ttielamira, Rock Pebble), and Spathopterus (Alexandra Parrakeet) 

 having long, tapering tails. The King Lory, Apt'osmicius cyano- 

 pygius, and Red-winged Lory, Ptistes ei-ythropterus, possess 

 broad tails, with the feathers of alm.ost uniform length and 

 rounded at the ends, whilst the Loriidse have wedge-shaped tails 

 ending in a narrow point. The Platycerci are furnished (as the 

 name implies) with a broad, tapering tail, with the three centre 

 feathers terminating in a blunt point. 



But wliat I wish to direct your attention to is the fact that some 

 species undergo little or no change in plumage during the whole 

 course of their existence, whilst others vary so much between first 

 feathering and maturity that young collectors may be readily 

 pardoned for mistaking adults and young for separate species. 

 If the sexes in some species can only be determined by dissection, 

 there are others in which the difference is so great that the males 

 and females can be separated at a glance. Then again, if some 

 species are so uniform in colout and markings that birds require 

 labelling to make sure of their identity, others vary so much that 

 it is almost impossible to find two birds alike, and this variation 

 often leads to mistakes. 



To make my meaning clear we will now take the Loriidas. In 

 a number of instances I have taken nestlings of the Little 

 Lorikeet, Glossopsitiacus pusillus, Musk Lorikeet, G. concinnus, 

 and Blue-bellied Lorikeet, TricJwglossus novce-hollandice, and as 

 soon as they were able to fly they were almost exactly like the 

 parent birds in all but size. If a number of these birds are shot 

 it will be found that age or sex makes very little difference. 



In the genus Polytelis we have another genus in which 

 uniformity prevails, but in a different manner. If fully matured 

 the males are so much alike in colour and markings that without 

 labels it is impossible to identify them. Although the females 

 lack much of the brilliant colouring of those of the opposite sex 

 they are equally regular in their plumage, while the same uni- 

 formity prevails in the young birds. 



In marked contrast to the foregoing the genus Barnardius is 



