202 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



the trees. The breeding season is from March to June ; 

 the careless nests are formed in hollow trees (such as 

 a-cacias) at a height of from fifteen to thirty feet from 

 the ground, and produce from three to four half-naked 

 young, which are an unusual time i'n developing. 



Capt. Boyd Alexander, writing on the " Birds of the 

 Gold Coast" (The Ibis, 1902, p. 370), says: "We 

 observed it near Busu in December in very large flocks, 

 frequenting the guinea-corn plantations, the corn being 

 then nearly ripe." 



At p. 437, the soft parts are thus described from 

 specimens obtained on the White Nile by Jl. McD. 

 Hawker : " Iris pale straw-colour ; bill red, blackish 

 at tip and on lower mandible; legs and feet grey." 



My friend, Mr. James Houeden, of Sydenhajn, had a 

 pair of this species committed to his care by Major, 

 then Lieut. Horsbrugh, and consequently I had an 

 opportunity of examining them. They appeared to me 

 slightly smaller than the Indian bird and somewhat, less 

 noisy ; the size, and colouring of the beak would alone 

 serve to distinguish them at a glance 'from P. torquata, 

 and dt is to me euirprising that the two should have 

 been confounded. I should describe the uppeir mandible 

 as crimson, blackish at tip, and more or less suffused 

 with blackish to about the middle (as if the beak had 

 been dipped into an ink-pot so as to duM the crimson 

 on the distal half), the lower mandible also suffused 

 with' blackish, but to the base. In fact, the beak is 

 altogether dingier than that of the Indian species. 



This species first reached the London Zoological 

 Gardens in 1861. 



BLOSSOM-HEADED PARRAKEET (Palaeornis cyanocephala). 



The cock bird, when adult, is of a brilliant green 

 colour, the head having a beautiful peach-like colouring, 

 red, shaded with blue, at the back and the nape of the 

 neck, and leas distinctly on the cheeks. There is a black 

 stripe from the lower mandible, which is continued as a 

 collar round the neck, and is followed by a yellowish 

 ring. The lesser wdng-coverts are marked with a bright 

 cinnamon reddish patch ; the axilkries and under wing- 

 coverts are of a glaucous or verditer blue colour. The 

 two central 'tail-feathers are blue, tipped with white, 

 and the remainder green, tipped with yellow. The 

 upper mandible is waxy yeMow, varying to orange, and 

 the lower mandible black or dusky. The hen has no 

 back collar or red patch on the wing-coverts ; the top, 

 back, and sides of the head are lilacine, somewhat 

 browner on the sides, and bounded by a better denned 

 yellow collar. The it lack collar is wanting. Hab., 

 Himalayas, the northern, western, and southern portion 

 of Central India, and Ceylon. 



Mr. Gould says that the Plum or " Blossom-headed " 

 Parrakeet prefers jungly districts to the more open 

 parts of the country, but occurs in all tihe more richly- 

 wooded, cultivated districts. Its flight is very swift. 

 It breeds in the jungle in holes of trees from December 

 to March, and usually lays four white eggs. The Phim- 

 head as very destructive to grain crops, and my brother 

 found it a perfwt pest in his Indian Garden, where a 

 flock would alight upon a row of peas and she'll the pods 

 almost as quickly as they could be done by hand : 

 directly they appeared, all available missiles were 

 hurled at them, sometimes more effectively injuring 

 the peas than even the destructive Parrakeets. 



Writing on the " Birds of Lucknow " (The. JMs, 1903, 

 p. 61), Mr. W. Jesse says: "It is more abundant in 

 the 'ra.ins,' from which I fancy thai it must be locally 

 migratory. I have never taken the egc 1 .*. but Reid cot. 

 four fresh specimens in a pipal-tree on the 15th of 



April, which averaged .98 in. by .80 in. The cry of this 

 bird is less harsh and far more pleasing than that of 

 P. torquatus." 



The Blossom-head is one of the best known and most 

 freely imported of all Parrots, and lhas, at times, been 

 sold at a vetry cheap rate. It was bred by Dr. Russ in 

 his birdroom in 1872 ; it first reached the London 

 zoological Gardens in 1862. 



ROSE-HEADED PARRAKEET (Palceornis reset). 



Both old and young birds are distinguishable at the 

 first glance from, the Indian Blossom-head, the mak 

 when admit having its head of a pearly rose-colour 

 shading into lavender on the crown, the iblack colour 

 not succeeded by a blue-green stripe as in the Indian 

 species ; the back and under parts are less yellow, th.- 

 rump bluer ; the patch on the wing, is browner, and the 

 central tail-feathers are tipped with yellow. 



The female has the head more ashy (less blue) ; the 

 yellow collar indistinct at the sides ; the green colour 

 above and below purer, andi the wing marked with a 

 red-brown patch as in the male. 



The young when they leave the nest nearly resemble 

 the female, but are a little duller ; both sexes show the 

 wing- patch distinctly. Hab.i "'Sikhim, Dacca, Eastern 

 Bengal, Assam, Upper Burmah, and eastwards as far 

 as Cochin China, and Southern China." (Salvadori.)* 



In Hume's " Nests and Egge of Indian Birds," 

 Second Edition, Vol. III., p. 88, we read : " Writing 

 of the Eastern Rose-headed Paroquet in Pegu, Mr. 

 Oates remarks> : ' Nest wdth four eggs well incubatod in 

 a hole of a tree about six feet from the ground. The 

 hole was a foot deep, very roomy, buit the entrance, 

 which had been enlarged by the bird, was only large 

 enough to admit its body. The eggs w r ere laid on the 

 bare wood. Although the sitting bird was poked at 

 with a stick, and it took fully half an hour to enlarge the 

 hole in order to take the eggs, yet the bird could not ba 

 induced to quit the nest, and eventually had to bo 

 dragged out. When disturbed with the stick the female 

 made a noise like the hissing of a snake. These eggs 

 were taken on, th 22nd February. 



" ' On the 22nd March two fresh eggs were taken from 

 another hole, and on the 16th March another nest was 

 found also with two eggs well incubated. 



" ' The eggs are, of course, pure white, rather glossy 

 when fresh, but becoming dull with incubation. The 

 eggs measure from .97 to .95 in length, and from .85 to 

 .8 in breadth.' " (Salvadori refers this note to P. rosa, 

 and probably that is so, though P. rosa is quoted a,.s 

 distinct in the same work.) 



Hume ("Nests and Eggs," Vol. III., pp. 87, 88} 

 appears 'to have transposed the two species of Blossom - 

 headed Parrakeets, but the habits of the two are FO 

 identical, botlh at liberty and in captivity, that it is of 

 little consequence. 



I purchased two pairs in young plumage about 1893. 

 but I soon discovered that both sexes of one pair had 

 bean pinioned, and (before many weeks) these died. Th* 

 ether pair acquired their full adult plumage in the 

 autumn, and in 1894 I was successful in breeding witb 

 them, one hen bird leaving the nesting-log and being 

 reared to maturity. It was decidedly larger than it- 

 mother, and she, having twisted her tail in the 

 when sitting, looked a very inferior bird. 



In the following spring the young bird attacked her 



* Salvador! gives Southern China on -the authority of Consul 

 Swinlw>(> but expresses his belief that the two specimens from 

 Chefoo and Canton are both cage-birds, and may have been 

 brought to China. 



