270 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA, 
PALMORNIS CYANOCEPHALUS (Blanford, Vol. III., p. 251; 
Legge, p. 174). 
The Western Blossom-headed Paroquet. 
Description—Male: Head red, tinged with a purple 
bloom on the nape and lower cheeks; chin, throat, and 
a narrow collar round the neck black; adjoining this 
collar the sides of the neck and the hind-neck are verdigris 
green ; back and scapulars olive-green ; wing coverts green 
with a wash of verdigris ; a red patch on the middle coverts ; 
inner wing quills green with pale edges and dusky black 
shafts and inner margins; the black increases on the outer 
quills, the first primary being almost wholly black ; rump 
verdigris green. The central tail feathers are blue with 
greenish bases and broad white tips ; in the next pair only the 
outer web is blue, the inner web being yellowish-green and the 
tip yellow ; in the remaining feathers the outer web is green, 
the inner weband tip yellow. Lower plumage yellowish-green. 
_ Females: Head slaty with a blue bloom on the crown and 
nape ; the black collar and throat patch are lacking, being 
replaced by a yellowish-green ring round the neck; no red 
patch on the wing coverts. 
Young birds are green, all over, and gradually assume the 
coloured hood. 
Bill, upper mandible orange-yellow, lower blackish-white 
or yellowish ; iris white or yellowish-white ; legs and feet 
dusky green. 
Length about 13°5; wing 5°20; tail about 7°5; tarsus °5; 
bill from cere ‘6. Females a little smaller. 
Distribution—Common in many parts of the low-country, 
but avoids the coast, and is distinctly scarce and local in the 
northern forest tract. In the hills it is fairly common, up to 
4,000 or 5,000 feet. It is found in suitable districts throughout 
the greater part of India westwards of the Bay of Bengal. 
Habits, &c.—This species feeds largely on grain and native 
vegetables, and is found mainly round paddy fields and in 
jungle chenas. Up-country it is partial to hillside patanas. 
The breeding season is from February to May; the nest hole 
is excavated generally in the smaller limbs of dead trees. The 
eggs are white and glossless. They are usually four in number, 
and average 1°0 by °81. 
