00 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



cheeks gradually taking the place of the green colouring of 

 youth. 



Genus PURPUREICEPHALUS, Bonaparte. 



Only one species of this form is at present known — the Pur- 

 pureice^halus pileatus, which differs so much in the colouring 

 of its plumage from every other species of the great family of 

 Parrots, as to render it one of the most remarkable yet dis- 

 covered; in the form and structm'e of the bill it deviates 

 from the true Plati/cerci, and it will probably be found that 

 its habits are peculiar. 



Sp. 425. PURPUREICEPHALUS PILEATUS. 

 Red-capped Parrakeet. 



Platycercus pileatus, Vig. in Zool. Journ., vol. v. p. 274. 



Psittacus purpureocephalus, Quoy et Gaira. Voy. de P Astrolabe, pi. 22. 



Conurus purpureocephalus, Bourj. de St.-Hil. Perr. tab. 39. 



Purpureicephalus pileatus, Bonap. Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1854<, p. 153. 



Platycercus rufifrons, Less. Traite d^Orn., p. 208 ? 



Pezoporus rufifrons, Bourj. de St.-Hil. Perr., tab; 9? 



Djar-rail-bur-tong, Aborigines of the lowland districts of Western 



Australia. 

 Blue Parrot of the Colonists. 



Platycercus pileatus, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol., vol. v. pi. 32. 



The Red-capped Parrakeet is an inhabitant of Western 

 Australia, where it is rather numerously dispersed over the 

 country from King George's Sound to the northern limits of 

 the colony. I have also received specimens from the neigh- 

 bourhood of Port Essington. It is usually seen in small families 

 feeding on the ground, but upon what kind of food it subsists 

 has not been ascertained. The breeding-season extends over 

 the months of October, November, and December. The hol- 

 low dead branch of a gum- or mahogany-tree is the place 

 usually chosen by the female for the reception of her eggs. 



