RIXG-XECKED PARRAKEETS. 



209 , 



1897 or 1898, but I had then practically given up keep- 

 ing Parrots, and therefore resisted the temptation. 

 This species was first exhibited at the London 

 Zoological Gardens in 1867, and others have been 

 received since. 



BLACK-TAILED PARRAKEET (Polytelis melanura). 



Upper back olive ; scapulars and flights black, the 

 latter with a purplish-blue suffusion on outer web ; 

 innermost greater wing-coverts red at tips ; innermost 

 secondaries red near tips of outer webs ; tail deep 

 purplish-blue ; head, neck, shoulders, rump and under 

 surface bright yellow, the head, nape, and upper tail- 

 coverts with an olive tinge ; flights below brown ; tail 

 below black, with paler tip ; beak scarlet ; feet ash- 

 grey ; irides bright red. Female dull olive-green, 

 darker on back; the rump, breast and abdomen with a 

 yellowish tinge ; a greenish yellow patch on the wing- 

 coverts ; bastard wing, primary coverts, primaries and 

 some of the secondaries deep blue, with olive outer 

 margins ; innermost greater wing-coverts and inner- 

 most secondaries red towards the tips ; tail bluish- 

 green, black on inner webs and below ; three and some- 

 times all five of the lateral feathers margined on inner 

 webs and tipped with rose-red ; under wing-coverts 

 yellowish-olive. Hab., South Australia, from New 

 South Wales to Western Australia. 



Gould says (" Handbook to the Birds of Australia," 

 Vol. II., p. 34) : "Gilbert remarks that, in Western 

 Australia, it is met with in small families of from nine 

 to twelve in number, feeding on seeds, buds of flowers, 

 and honey gathered from the white gum-tree. Its 

 flight, as indicated by its form, is rapid in the 

 extreme." 



A. J. Campbell (" Nests and Eggs of Australian 

 Birds," pp. 625, 626) says: "Nest. Within a hole 

 or hollow of a tree, usually bordering a stream in the 

 interior, or in the crevice of a cliff, notably on the 

 Lower Murray River. Eggs. Clutch, four to six, 

 roundish in shape, texture of shell comparatively fine, 

 surface glossy in some instances, with limy nodules, 

 colour pure white. Dimensions in inches of proper 

 clutches : A (1) 1.26 x -9, (2) 1.24 x -98, (3) 1.2 x .98, 

 (4) 1.19 x -96 ; B (1) 1.17 x .91, (2) 1.16 x .91, (3) 1.12 x 

 .91, (4) 1.11 x . 95, (5) 1.07 x . 91." 



" The late Captain F. C. Hansen (of the Murray 

 steamer ' Maggie ') informed me that he has found 

 the Black-tailed Parrakeet nesting in the Broken Bend 

 cliffs (mallee cliffs) of the River Murray, near Went- 

 worth, also in the cliffs lower down, between Morgan, 

 South Australia, and the border of Victoria. Captain 

 Hansen also states that generally only a pair of young 

 is hatched out of a clutch of four eggs, and that a 

 pair of old birds rears two broods a season in the 

 same nest." 



This Parrakeet is fairly well known under the 

 name of " Rock-pebbler." It is not a common 

 species in captivity in this country. Russ states 

 that it has laid eggs on several occasions in 

 confinement, and in 1886 was bred by Mr. B. 

 Christensen, of Copenhagen. In 1903 Mrs. Johnstone 

 bred it at Bury St. Edmunds. Being a rare bird, its 

 price is high. Russ puts it at 60 to 75 marks for a 

 pair. It was first purchased by the London Zoological 

 Society in 1864, and others have since been added. 



The genus Ptistes is characterised by having its tail- 

 feathers of almost equal length and very broad. 

 According to Mr. Seth- Smith, the one species hitherto 

 imported should have a generous and varied diet 

 canary hemp, oats, sunflower, boiled maize and ripe 

 fruit, especially apples. 



PRINCESS OF WALES' PARRAKEET 

 (Spathopterus alexandrce).* 



Differs from Polytelis barrabandi in its pale blue 

 forehead and the rosy colour of the lower part of the 

 cheeks, the chin, and throat, which are yellow in that 

 species ; the central tail-feathers are also bluish-olive, 

 the two succeeding feathers olive-green on their outer 

 webs and dark brown on the inner ones ; the remaining 

 feathers with black centres, the outer parts olive-grey 

 and the inner deep rose-red ; the beak is coral red ; 

 the feet mealy-brown ; iris, orange-yellow. Female 

 smaller and duller, with less rose colour on the throat, 

 and the third primary not spatulate as in the male. 

 Hab., Northern and Central Australia. 



Mr. Keartland (" Report of the Horn Expedition to 

 Central Australia," pp. 61, 62) says : " Professor Tate 

 said he had seen a strange-looking Parrot in the oaks 

 near at hand. I started off in the direction indicated, 

 and, after going about two hundred yards, saw what 

 at first appeared to be a Cockatoo-parrot flying towards 

 me. Having carefully noted the branch on which it 

 perched, I hurried forward, but, notwithstanding the 

 sparse foliage of the tree, I had to look carefully for 

 some minutes before I found it. Immediately the shot 

 was fired a number of these beautiful birds flew out 

 of the trees in all directions, in twos, threes and fours. 

 Five birds flew into one tree, but I had to walk round 

 three times before I could see them. At last four heads 

 were visible, just raised from a thick limb, the bodies 

 and tails lying horizontally along the timber. 



" I have since heard that one of their breeding 

 places has been discovered on the Hale river. Mr. 

 Charles Pritchard, who accompanied the party as pro- 

 spector for gold, and assisted me in obtaining my birds, 

 has forwarded to me three eggs out of a clutch of five, 

 which is the usual number. They closely resemble 

 those of Platycercus eximius in shape and size, but 

 have a smooth and glossy surface, more like a pigeon's 

 egg. I have since compared them with one laid by 

 Mr. Magarey's bird in captivity, and find they exactly 

 correspond. 



" Writing under date 15th November, 1894, Mr. 

 Pritchard says : ' Re their appearance here. This is 

 the first time on record that they have made this their 

 breeding ground, but I do not think they have come 

 to stay, and perhaps in a year or so they may be as 

 rare as ever. These birds travel in lots from one pair 

 up to nearly any number, are very tame, feeding about 

 in the grass near the camp, and seem in no way afraid 

 of people, cattle or horses. They breed in hollow 

 trees, laying five eggs in a clutch, and several pairs 

 of birds occupy holes in the same tree. They are nest- 

 ing now in the eucalypts on the banks of the Hale 

 river and other large watercourses. They do not always 

 lie along the limbs, as you found them at Glen Edith, 

 but perch as other Parrots. I have a number in 

 captivity, amongst them being an old male bird with a 

 tail 17in. long.' ' 



Mr. Full james gives an account of a pair which he 

 obtained, in The Avicultural Magazine, Vol. V., pp. 

 168, 169, and he mentions another pair in the Adelaide 

 Zoological Gardens which have nested and produced 

 a pair of young. The cocks of Mr. Fulljames' pair 

 and that in the Adelaide Zoo both died young, and it 

 would appear that the species is by no means a hardy 

 one, though very beautiful. When once established, 

 Mr. Fulljames fed his hen bird upon millet and canary- 



* This species has been separated from Polytelis as a distinct 

 genus on account of the spatulate third primary in the wing of the 

 male. 



