N'KOPKKMA. 153 



Neophema bourkei. 



BOUKKE'.'s (_i KA8.S-PA KRA K EE 1'. 



^'imoiles bourk-ii, Mitchell, Three Exp.'ds. Inter. E. Austr., V^ol. I., p. xviii. (1838). 



Enphiiaa buiirkii, Goulfl, Bcls. Austr., fol. Vol. V., pi. 43(1848) ; id., Handlpk-. Bds. Austr., Vol. II., 

 p. 80 (1865). 



Nrophnivi lumrhd, '(^■A\\-a.A., Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XX., p. ."uO ( 1891 ) ; Sharpe, Hand-1. Bd.s., 

 Vol. II., p. 39 (1900) : Salvad., Ibis, 1907, p. 314. 



Adult ,malr. — General colour ahnre dro/n/, i/nrki'r mi the cenf r^' af (In- rump ami upiwr tdil- 

 corerts; head and hind-neck timjed. ivith snliumi-red ; priinurie-s, seconduries and priuiarij-cocerts brotvn, 

 washed with blue on their outer u:ebs : shou/der.i and lesser upper ivimj-cover/s blue : remainder of the 

 u-ing-coverls brown maryiued wif/i i/fl/au-isli^/vhite, as are flu' outi-r ivebs of the inner secondaries : six 

 central tail-feathers blackish-browu, shaded u-itli blue on their outer webs : the next on either side blue on 

 the outer n^ebs black on the inner, and I ary el ij tipped with whitr, the u-liite iucreasiny in extent toivards 

 tlie outermost feather on either side, which is wloillij u-hit'' except at tlo- base: feathers at the base of 

 the bill and the orbital reyion ivhilish. ; na indistinct bawl on the firehead and a narrow siiperciliary 

 line blue; feathers of the cheeks, throat, chest and breast pale salmou-red, with narrenv blackish 

 maryins; bases of the feathers brown; abdomen salmon-red; jf.anks, under tail-coverts, the sides of 

 till' rump and outer series of th'- upper tail -coverts tun/uoise-hlw \ hill blackish-liorn colour; feel 

 broH-n. Total leuyth iu the jtesh So inches, winy 4'', lail '/'J, bill 0-J, tarsus (t-J. 



Adult female. — Duller in colour than the male, the cheeks and throat ashy-?vhite margined with 

 brown, and faintly tinged ?vith salmon-red, and ivith only an indication of the blue frontal baud. 



Distributiioi. — New South Wales, South .Vustralia, Western .Australia. 



"TTyT^* HJKKE'S Grass-Parrakeet was discovered by the late Major T. L. Mitchell, Surveyor- 

 J — J General of New South Wales (subsequently Sir Thomas L. Mitchell) on the Bogan River, 

 and the types were deposited, with many other zoological specimens, in the Australian 

 Museum, Sydney, as recorded in Volume I. of his work" published in 1838. x\lthough Mitchell's 

 name stands as the authority for this species, it was a bare name only, unaccompanied by any 

 description, and consists of " S anodes bourkii, Mitch, (new species) from Bogan Ki\er." 



Gould first described and figured it in his folio edition of the Birds of .Vustralia, under the 

 name of Eiiphcina boiirkii,^ from e.xamples in the ,'\ustralian Museum, deposited there by 

 Sir T. L. Mitchell. The upper figure is undoubtedly taken from an immature bird, as is clearly 

 indicated by the white band through the wing. In no specimens, however, have I seen the blue 

 frontal band and superciliary stripe so broad and well defined as there figured. In very old 

 males the feathers of the foreneck and upper breast are salmon-red, like the abdomen, but have 

 pale brownish centres. In one adult male in the Australian Museum Collection, presented by 

 Mr. Percy Peir, the feathers on the rump are entirely turquoise-blue. There is also an 

 abnormally plumaged specimen, with some of the quills, greater wing-coverts, and feathers on 

 the back white. 



Bourke's Grass Parrakeet is essentially a bird of the interior. Captain Charles Sturt met with 

 it in numbers at the Depot, not in Central Australia, as believed by him and consequently many 

 others, but in North-western New South Wales. Mr. Robert Grant obtained a specimen near 



■ Mitchell, " Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia," Vol. I., p. xviii. (1838). 

 t Bds. Austr , fol. Vol. V., pi. 43 (1848). 



