232 Bird-keeping. 



or PLUM-HEADED PARRAKEETS are also general 

 favourites ; but there are so many specimens of 

 splendid Parrots, Macaws, Cockatoos, etc., annually 

 brought to England, and well known to all lovers of 

 cage birds, that it is needless, even were it possible, 

 to describe them. I will confine myself, therefore, to 

 a notice of one or two of the species more recently 

 introduced into this country. 



The PLATYCERCI or BROAD-TAILED PARRAKEETS 

 of Australia are especially lovely, glowing with blue, 

 green, violet, and crimson tints. The KING PARROT 

 (Aprosmictus scapulatus) is a splendid bird : the head, 

 neck, and the whole of the under parts of the body are 

 of a deep vermilion red, the back and wings of a 

 beautiful dark green, the scapulars being of a light 

 grass green : the quill-feathers and the tail are bluish- 

 black. The tail is very long, broad, and square. The 

 hen is green in the upper part of the body, the breast 

 being streaked with red, the under part of the body 

 light red, and the tail green and blue. 



PENNANT'S PARRAKEET (Platycercus Pennantii}, 

 sometimes called the Australian Lory, has the prevail- 

 ing colour of the plumage of a rich crimson, each 

 feather having a darker tinge in the centre, edged with 

 a brighter shade. It has a beautiful violet-blue throat 

 and shoulders, and a dark blue and green tail, some of 

 the feathers being tinged with red, and others fringed 

 with white. The quill-feathers of the wings are also 



