i!\HNAnr)U-.s. 137 



males with tlie lower breast yellowish-.^'roen, the lonner procured l)y Mr. Carter in tlie same 

 locality in July, 1906, and the latter the skin of an adult m.ile bird, wliich Mr. (i. A. Keartland, 

 of Melbourne, had kept in conhnemeni for ten years, tlie latter specimen beinj; furthermore 

 distinguished by the broadest red frontal band I have ever seen in this species. Not only 

 had the specimens exhibited this broad yellow band across the lower breast, but others in the 

 mounted collection of tiie Australian Museum do also. It is apparently common to both 

 sexes, but is only found m fully adult birds, with the feathers of the head black, and a well defined 

 yellow collar on the hind neck. An adult male from the Darlin-:,' Rani;e, received on loan from 

 the Trustees of the Western .\nstralian Museum, Perth, has a few scattered yellow feathers 

 across the lower breast. The amount of red, too, on the foreiiead. even in very old birds, is 

 extremely variable, and the winj.,'-measurement varies from j-^j to 77 inches. 



The breast of /j(7r»ir/i/;«s 5y;;/;7i';(/;/,t/»s is not shown in either of (iould s figures in his folio 

 edition of the "IJirds of Australia," and although he did not originally describe D. lonaritis, he 

 points out the yellow band across tlie lower breast as a character to distinguish it from the former 

 species. 



Mr. (jeorge Masters obtained a fine series of these birds in Western Australia, while 

 collecting on behalf of the Trustees of the .Vustralian Museum at King George's Sound, in 

 March, 1866, and again at Mongup, Salt I^iver, in January, lSiSij. Mr. Masters informs me 

 he has shot many of these birds for the pjt. and has often enjoyed a savoury stew made from 

 their bodies, but a dozen or mure would be (jbtained in the duller livery of young birds, 

 with dark brown heads, to one fine full-plumaged adult male. 



In sending a skin of a fine old adult male for examination, Mr. d. .A. Keartland wrote me: — 

 " Banuii'diiis SL-iiiitiii'c]!iatiis \s restricted to the southern portion of Western Australia, and is the 

 largest species of the genus. These birds vary considerably in plumage. Whilst some are highly 

 coloured, with a broad scarlet frontal band, others ha\e only a few red feathers near the base of 

 the upper mandible. In the majority of cases the breast is pale green, but occasionally a few 

 yellow feathers are visible amongst the green. The specimen sent I previously had alive for ten 

 years, and it was thus marked when I first purchased it, but it never varied in the extent of 

 yellow or green as long as it lived." 



From information sent me by Mr. Tom Carter, I have extracted the following: — " Baniai'ditis 

 scinitoyqiuitiis is exceedingly common in the south-western portion of Western .Australia, and 

 particularly along the coast hills in summer. The red frontal band is very pronounced and 

 brilliant in many birds, and I have one skin with the black head feathers immediately behind 

 the frontal band tipped with green. They are most destructive birds in orchards, and have an 

 eijual lil:ing for huit ripe or unripe. The biids are very wary in the nesting season, retiring 

 from the haunts of man. I saw Hedged young at ISroome Hill on the 20th November, igo8." 



Mr. Edwin Ashby, of Blackwood, South .A.ustralia, writes me : — " Baniavdius sciiutoi-qnntiis 

 was very common at Eticup, Western Australia, in June iSSg. I saw a sackful! brought in 

 from a field strewn with poisoned wheat, fhey are locally called in Western Australia the 

 'Twenty-eights,' from the whistling cry they make." 



Gould remarks : — " While on the wing its motions are tapid, and it often utters a note 

 which, from its resemblance to those words, has procured for it the appellation of " Twenty- 

 eight " Parrakeet, from the colonists, the last word or note being sometimes repeated five or six 

 times in succession. The Platyceyciisseiiiifoi'qitntiis begins breeding in the latter part of September 

 or early in October, and deposits its eggs in a hole in either a Gum or Mahogany tree, on the 

 soft black dust collected at the bottom; they are from seven to nine in number, and of a pure 

 white." 



* Gould, Handbk. tids. Austr., Vol. II., p. 42 1S65). 

 35 



