552 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



The general colour of the upper surface brown ; head and 

 back of the neck tinged with grey, the feathers of these parts 

 as well as of the back margined with a deeper tint ; rump, 

 belly, and under tail-coverts deep red ; cheeks, throat, and 

 chest yellow, the former tinged with red ; shoulders on their 

 inner surface yellow tinged with rufous olive; tail-feathers 

 banded at the base with orange-yellow and brown ; the inner 

 webs of the quill-feathers at the base and beneath, with dusky 

 red and brown ; irides very dark brown ; bill brown ; nos- 

 trils, bare skin round the eye, and feet dark olive-brown. 



Sp. 15. NESTOR ESSLINGII, Be Souance. 



Prince of Essling's Parrot. 



Nestor esslingii, De Souance, Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1856, p. 223. 

 novcE-zelandice, Boiiap. Rev. etMag. de Zool. 1854, p. 155. 



Nestor esslingii, Gould, Birds of Australia, foL, Supplement pi. 



A single specimen only of this magnificent Parrot has come 

 under my notice ; and this example is perhaps the only one 

 that has yet been sent to Europe. It formerly formed part of 

 the collection of the Prince D'Essling of Paris, but now graces 

 the National Museum of Great Britain. It is in a most per- 

 fect state of preservation, and is, without exception, one of the 

 finest species, not only of its genus, but of the great family of 

 Parrots. The native country of this bird is supposed to be 

 New Zealand; but I, as well as M. de Souance, have failed 

 to learn anything definite on this point. In size it even ex- 

 ceeds the great Ka-ka {Nestor hypopolius), which it resembles 

 in the form of its beak, while in its general colouring it closely 

 assimilates to the N. producfus ; in some features of its plu- 

 mage, however, it differs from both. In both those species 

 the tail-feathers are strongly toothed on the under surface with 

 red ; in the N. esslingii no such marks occur, the toothing on 

 the inner webs of the primaries is not so clear and well de- 



