VI PSITTACIDAE 369 
The genus Kelectus, extending from the Moluccas with the 
Tenimber Islands to the Solomon Archipelago, has green males 
and red females. £. pectoralis of Papuasia is green, with red 
sides, blue remiges and lateral rectrices edged with green, and 
yellow-tipped tail. The female differs in having the head, chest, 
and upper parts bright red, the end of the tail lighter, the breast, 
abdomen, edge of the wing and a dorsal band blue. 
Dasyptilus pesqueti of New Guinea is black, with the tail- 
coverts, abdomen, sides, much of the wings, and a lateral band 
on the occiput red; the crown- and nape-feathers are narrow 
and pointed, the face and throat nearly naked and black. It 
lives at considerable altitudes in couples or small companies, 
eating fruit, and uttering a loud, harsh cry. Coracopsis vasa, the 
Vasa or “loud-voiced” Parrot of Madagascar, sacred to royalty 
in one of the tribes, and its lesser compatriot, C. nigra, are 
blackish-brown, with grey wings, rump, and tail, and yellowish 
naked orbits. The small flocks are partly terrestrial, but fly high; 
the ery is shrill; the food consists of seeds and other fruits and 
roots. C. vasa has been introduced into Réunion, C. comorensis 
and C. sibilans inhabit the Comoros, C. barklyi the Seychelles. 
That clever talker, Psittacus erithacus, the Grey Parrot, which 
ranges across Equatorial Africa, is ashy-grey, with black prim- 
aries, red tail, and whitish naked face. It walks well, and climbs 
admirably by the aid of its beak, flying with chattering screams 
at considerable elevations, consorting in large companies, and pro- 
bably nesting in holes in trees. P. timneh is not known to talk. 
Poeocephalus robustus of Southern Africa is green, with brown- 
ish head, neck, remiges and rectrices; it has vermilion thighs, 
bend of the wing, and, occasionally, forehead ; and naked orbits. 
The habits call for no special mention. Caica melanocephala of 
Guiana and Amazonia is green, with yellow cheeks, throat, sides 
and tip of the tail, a rufous nuchal collar, whitish lower parts, 
black primaries margined with blue, and green and black naked 
orbits. Gypopsittacus vulturinus of the Lower Amazons is chiefly 
green, yellow feathers tipped with black covering the throat, and 
forming a band at the back of the naked but hairy black head; 
the thighs are yellow stained with red; the upper wing-coverts 
blue margined with green, except the lesser, which are orange and 
red; the primaries are blue and black; the secondaries greener : 
the rectrices green and yellow, tipped with blue. 
VOL. IX 2B 
