Mr. E. Ilartert on the Genus Psittacella. 59 



o j Head brick-red ; upper tail-coverts deep crimson : P. picta 5 . 



I Head olive-brown ; upper tail-coverts greenish, barred with black : 4. 

 , I Head browner : P. brehtni tyjnca $ . 



I flead more grejdsli olive : P. hrehmi pallida $ . 

 K \ Upper tail-coverts crimson : P. picta ^ . 



I Upper tail-coverts greenish, barred with black : 6. 

 g ( Chin and throat browner : P. hrehmi typica S . 



I Chin and throat more greyish olive : P. hrehmi pallida J . 



i Breast dull reddish, with cresceutic black bars : P. modesta § . 

 Hind neck red, with crescentic black bars : P. madaraszi $ . 

 No bars, except on the rump : 8. 

 Q I Breast and hind neck olive-brown : P. modesta S ■ 



I Breast green ; hind neck with ochreous-yellow spots : P. madaraszi c? . 



I should explain that I have purposely constructed the 

 " key " in this way, instead of the one we are accustomed to 

 in the Catalogue of Birds, because this is the sort of key to 

 be used in the ^Tierreich' of the German Zoological Society. 

 To us, who generally use the other kind of 'Hieys,'^ it is 

 at first not so convenient, perhaps, but it is so simple that 

 it does not require any explanation, and it has the advantage 

 that in very long keys it is not necessary to cut the lines 

 shorter and shorter, thus wasting much space. 



Psittacella picta (described by Mr. Rothschild in the Bull. 

 B, O. C. no. xxxviii. p. v) is a beautiful species, both sexes of 

 which are depicted on Plate III. It is chiefly characterized 

 by the rufous head and the deep-red upper tail-coverts in 

 both sexes, while the male is also ornamented with an orange- 

 (not sulphur-) yellow, almost or quite complete, band on the 

 hind neck, and a blue breast, which is not developed in the 

 immature male. 



In the ^Report on New Guinea' for ISQJ', Ornith. p. 2, 

 Mr. De Vis'^ speaks of some specimens which he says he 

 would have referred to Dr. Meyer's P. pallida, were it not 

 that Count Salvadori had stated that there is no ditfcrence 

 between P. brehmi and P. pallida. Mr. De Vis, however, 

 mentions that his specimens are smaller, and have " an 

 obvious submetallic bluish-green gloss, invisible in certain 

 lights, on the lower surface of the edges and tips of the 



* Ann. Rep. Brit. New Guinea, 1693-94 (Brisbane, 1894), p. 100. 



