﻿302 Mr. E. Hartert on the Birds of 



that are kept in confinement, specimens procured in a wild 

 state are so rare in museums that its habitat could only be 

 given with a query in Salvadori's Catalogue of the Parrots 

 (/. c), inhabits the Island of Aruba. It might not be out of 

 place here to state that it is also common in the lowland 

 forests of the district of Coro, and in other parts of Vene- 

 zuela, whence large numbers are sent to the bird-shops of the 

 larger towns of Venezuela and to Curacao. 



I procured three adult males of this fine bird. They are 

 very bright-coloured, forehead and lores white with a faint 

 ashy hue, the greater part of the top of the head, and in all 

 three specimens some of the feathers on the neck also, rich 

 yellow with rosy-orange bases ; the entire sides of the head 

 and chin of the same colour, corresponding with Brisson's 

 description and Levaillant's very good figure. The whole of 

 the cubital edge, the bend of the wing, and nearly all of the 

 lesser wing-coverts bright yellow (" epaulettes jaunes " of 

 Levaillant) ; thighs bright yellow with a rosy tinge at the bases 

 of the feathers ; bill whitish horn-colour ; iris orange-red, 

 shading into orange-yellow inwards ; feet dark grey. My 

 specimens are coloured thus, but in captivity these birds often 

 besmear the forehead with dirt, as many also do in a wild 

 state with the sticky juice of the fruits of Cactus. In 

 European Museums, where all or nearly all the specimens 

 are from individuals that have died in confinement, the 

 yellow is often not so much extended. The plumage of the 

 perfectly adult bird may perhaps never be acquired in 

 Europe, where most specimens of this Parrot are brought 

 when very young. In the immature bird the yellow on the 

 head is less diffused round the eyes ; the chin and cheeks are 

 pale bluish, and probably quite blue in birds lately from the 

 nest, the bluish colour getting more and more mixed and 

 overspread with yellow as the bird gets older (as I observed 

 in my live specimens from Coro that I brought home with 

 me) ; bend of the wing greenish, and cubital edge not so 

 bright yellow ; thighs pale yellow ; iris reddish brown. 



The cubital edge is always yellow, except in its innermost 

 corner, where occasionally a few red feathers appear. Some- 

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