ECLECTUS. 



197 



recorded as having reached the Lon3on Zoological 

 Gardens in. the ninth edition of the " List*" 



WESTERMANN'S ECLECTUS (Eclectus iv ester manni}. 



Green ; edge of wing blue ; primaries deep blue, 

 edged with green towards base of outer web ; outer 

 secondaries blue at tip and on inner web ; primary 

 coverts blue edged with green ; tail with a yellowish 

 terminal band, the outer feathers more or less tinged 

 with blue on outer web ; under wing-coverts red ; upper 

 mandible red, lower one black ; feet Black. Female 

 differs from that sex of E. pectoralis in having a blue 

 collar, but dull purple lower breast ; the under tail- 

 coverts of a much darker and duller red ; and no blue 

 ring round the eye ; both sexes are also smaller than 

 in that species. Hab. ? 



Dr. Meyer was of opinion that this species was 

 founded upon specimens kept in confinement, the 

 plumage of which had been arrested in development, 

 and Dr. Sharpe, concurring, believed that they might 

 belong to E. riedeli ; in 1899, however, a consignment 

 of ten examples (six males and four females) arrived 

 alive in London, and Mr. Rothschild sent a pair to the 

 sixty-fourth meeting of the British Ornithologists' 

 Club, and pointed out that the male differed from all 

 the other species in being entirely green on the breast ; 

 the female came nearest to E. pectoralis, but differed 

 in having the lower breast dull purple instead of bright 

 blue like the collar. Unfortunately, the habitat of the 

 species still remained unknown. 



In 1849 and 1850 this species is said to have been 

 living in the Amsterdam Zoological Gardens ; in 1857 

 und 1865 there were specimens in the London Gardens. 

 Mies Hagenbeck had a specimen in 1882, and (as noted 

 above) ten specimens reached London, six of which died, 

 in 1899. 



CORNELIA'S ECLECTUS (Eclectus cornelia). 



Male above dark green, most of the feathers with 

 paler borders ; outer webs of primaries deep blue, 

 mostly with greenish edges, inner webs black ; tail blue 

 towards tip, yellowish at tip ; head and neck paler 

 green; sides of breast and upper abdomen, and under 

 wing-coverts, except at edge of wing, red ; primaries 

 below black; tail below also black with the tip sordid 

 vellow ; upper mandible orange-red tipped with yellow, 

 lower mandible black ; irides orange-yellow. Female 

 red ; back, rump, and upper tail-coverts darker ; edge 

 of wing, primaries and their coverts deep blue ; 

 secondaries with the outer webs red, the inner webs 

 dark green, excepting the outermost secondaries, which 

 are blue, with the base of the outer web green ; tail 

 slightly paler red at tip ; under wing-coverts red, more 

 or less mixed with blue ; tail below golden red ; beak 

 black ; feet dusky ; irides yellowish, with a red outer 

 ring. Hab., interior of Sumba (Lesser Sunda Islands). 



In June, 1897. Mr. Rothschild exhibited a pair of this 

 species at a meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club, 

 and stated that it had previously only been known from 

 females which had died in captivity, but recentlv Mr. 

 W. Doherty and Mr. A. H. Everett had collected a 

 series, including examples of iboth sexes, in the interior 

 of the island of Sumba. 



I have been unable to trace any record of the species 

 being kept in captivity in recent times, but it seems 

 probable (as Russ puts it down in his "Handbook " as 

 the female of E. westermanni} that one if not both of 

 the examples of the latter species recorded as living in 

 the Amsterdam Gardens must represent Bonaparte's 

 type of E. cornelia, and it is possible that the example 

 referred to in the " Catalogue of Birds " in ths British 

 Museum may have lived in the Surrey Zoological 

 Gardens. 



RACKET-TAILED PARROT (Prioniturus platurus). 



Bright green, yellower on underparts, especially on 

 the under tail-coverts ; vertex crossed by a red band ; 

 upper wing-coverts greenish grey, becoming delicate 

 bluish-grey towaras bend of wing ; innermost 

 secondaries yellowish white on inner webs; middle tail- 

 feathers spatulate, the rackets green centred with blue ; 

 lateral tail-feathers with deep blue terminal third ; 

 flights and tail-feathers below verditer-green ; beak and 

 feet greyish ; irides brown. Female without red on head 

 and without the greyish shades on back of head, back, 

 and upper wing-coverts which occur in the male ; racket 

 feathers shorter. Hab., Celebes, Togian Islands, Siao 

 and Bouton. 



A female arrived at the London Zoological Gardens 

 in 1902, and in t'he following year Mr. Seth- Smith pub- 

 lished an illustrated account of the species in The. 

 Avicultural Magazine, Second Series, Vol. I., pp. 345- 

 347. 



The species of Tanygnatkus would probably do well 

 upon the same food as the species of Eclectus. Mr. 

 Seth-Smith simply says " the usual seeds, nuts and 

 fruit." 



BLUE-CROWNED PARRAKEET (Tanygnathus luzonensis). 



Green, yellower on interscapular region and under 

 surface ; scapulars and sometimes the lower back tinged 

 with blue ; flights dark green, the secondaries more 

 or less tinged with blue ; smaller upper coverts black 

 near bend of wing ; median coverts blue-black, with 

 brownish-yellow borders ; greater coverts blue, edged 

 with yellowish-green ; primary coverts bluish-green ; 

 top and back of head, and sometimes the lower cheeks, 

 blue; upper mandible rose-red, lower mandible pale 

 pinkish-red ; feet dusky greenish or olive-brown ; irides 

 yellowish -white with an inner brown ring. Female 

 smaller, beak smaller, shorter, and less powerful. Hab., 

 Philippine Islands, including Palawan, Mantanani, the 

 Sooloo Islands, and perhaps the Sanghir Islands. 



Mr. J. Whitehead (The Ibis, 1890, pp. 41, 42) says: 

 " Very common. This Parrot is one of the first birds 

 that attracts the traveller's attention in Palawan, as it 

 flies swiftly from forest to forest in small flocks, scream- 

 ing loudly. In flight the wings are often kept much 

 below the level of the body. This species frequents the 

 tops of high trees, feeding on various jungle fruits, but 

 often during the heat of the day they hide amongst 

 thick- foliaged trees only a few feet from the ground, 

 from which they dash out with loud screams when dis- 

 turbed. Bill rosy-red ; feet horny-green ; the pupil 

 black with a small black ring round it." 



Professor J. B. Steere (The Ibis, 1894, p. 418) says 

 that this species is " the common form found every- 

 where abundantly " in the Philippines. And again in 

 The Ibis for 1896 we read : " The Blue-crowned Parra 

 keet appears to be universally distributed throughout 

 the islands, and seems to have been fairly common in the 

 low forest of Mindoro." In The Ibis for 1897, p. 248, 

 birds from Samar and Leite are described by Mr. 

 Whitehead as having the " iris straw-white, a ring of 

 brown round the pupil ; bill rosy-red ; lower mandible 

 pale pinkish-red; feet olive-brown." 



In The Ibis for 1899, p. 397, Mr. Whitehead adds to 

 the above information : " Nesting in numbers in old 

 tree trunks in the month of June in Samar." 



According to Mr. Walter Goodfellow, describing the 

 birds of the Volcano of Apo and its vicinity, in South - 

 East Mindanao, the soft parts differ in the sexes as 

 follows : " Mole. Iris cream coloured, shading into 

 olive-green near pupil; bill red. yellowish towards the 

 tip; cere black; feet greyish-olive. Female. Iris pale 



