62 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



Sp. 426. PSEPHOTUS H^MATORRHOUS. 

 Red-vented Parrakeet. 



Psephotus hcematog aster, Gould^ Birds of Australia, fol., vol. v. pi. 33. 



hamatorrhouS) Bonap. Rev. et Mag. de ZooL, 1854, p. 154. 



Platycei'cus Immatogaster, G. R. Gray, List of Spec, of Birds in Coll. 



Brit. Mus., part iii. sec. ii. p. 7. 

 Blue bonnet of the Colonists of New South Wales. 



Psephotus haematogaster, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol., vol. v. 

 pi. 33. 



This species of Parrakeet is an inhabitant of the interior of 

 New South Wales, where it frequents the borders of the rivers 

 Namoi and Darling; and in all probability its range extends far 

 to the northward ; but, so far as is yet known, it has never 

 been found in Southern or Western Australia ; I met with it 

 in tolerable abundance in the neighbourhood of the Lower 

 Namoi, where it appeared to give a decided preference to 

 those parts of the plains which were of a loose mouldy 

 character, and with which the colour of its back so closely 

 assimilates as to be scarcely distinguished from it. Like the 

 other members of the family, it is mostly observed in small 

 flocks, feeding upon the seeds of the various grasses abound- 

 ing on the plains. It is only when the bird, after a short 

 flight, alights on the branches, that the splendid scarlet of the 

 abdomen, relieved by the yellow of the sides, is seen to ad- 

 vantage ; when thus seen, however, it is a truly beautiful object, 

 and is scarcely excelled by any other species of the group. 



I did not ascertain any particulars respecting its nidification, 

 but we may easily suppose that it breeds in the districts 

 above mentioned, as I met with it there at Christmas — the 

 height of the Australian summer. 



The male has the forehead and face ultramarine blue; 

 crown of the head, upper surface, sides of the neck, and the 

 chest greyish olive-brown, washed with yellow on the rump 

 and upper tail-coverts ; lesser wing-coverts mingled verditer- 



