BROADTAIL PARRAKEETS. 



221 



Adelaide, the young in the green dress were assembled admit of a near approach ; when flushed they merely 

 in flocks of hundreds ; they were generally on the ground flew up to the branches of the nearest tree. It is 

 , ~o arc h of grass seeds, and when so occupied would impossible to conceive anything more beautiful than the 



rising of a flock of newly -moulted adults of 



in se 



PENNANT'S PABRAKEKT. 



this species, for their beautiful broad, blue 

 tails and wings glittering in the sun pre- 

 sent a really magnificent spectacle." 



Dr. Russ says of this bird: "Entire 

 nature corresponding with that of the pre- 

 ceding species, for the most part not dis- 

 tinguished' at all by aviculturists and 

 dealers." And as Dr. Russ tells us that 

 the price of the two birds is the same (in 

 Germany, at any rate), I suspect that to 

 this day the smaller and less experienced 

 of Englieh. dealers sell the Adelaide Parra- 

 keet as the * femaile of the Pennant. Of 

 course, if one possesses a male Pennant and 

 a female Adelaide (or vice versa) they may 

 be expected to interbreed under favour- 

 able circumstances ; for, after all, they are 

 but geographical races, though easily separ- 

 able by their colouring. It is also quite 

 possible that the result of such a cross 

 would not be an admixture of colouring, 

 but as with the varietal forms of tha 

 Gouldiaii Finch, when interbred, would, re 

 produce the male 'Colouring in the young 

 males and the female colouring in the 

 young females, or the reverse, as happened 

 when 1 paired male P. gouldice with female 

 P. mirabilis. The natural effect of such a 

 result upon the owner would be to render 

 him obstinate in upholding the dealer's 

 statement that the brick-red bird was the 

 female of the crimson bird, and not a dis- 

 tinct species or geographical form, but in 

 all these matters it is far better to sift 

 your facts to the bottom! before making 

 positive assertions. It is unpleasant to 

 know yourself wrong, and trying to some 

 men to own it." 



An example of this bird was deposited at 

 the London Zoological Gardens in 1863 ; few 

 specimens have found their way to Regent's 

 Park, however. 



YELLOW-HUMPED PARRAKEET (Platycercus fiaveolus). 



The adult male hae the head yellowish with the fore- 

 head red, the lores and throat washed with red, and the 

 cheeks blue ; the feathers of the back and the scapu- 

 laries are black edged with pale yellowish and some- 

 times with a bluish tinge between the black and the 

 yellow ; wings blue, the bastard wing and outer web 

 of basal portion of the primaries deep violet blue, the 

 remainder of the primaries deep brown ; inner wing- 

 coverts and inner secondaries ibiaek with slight blue 

 tinge and edged with pale yellow ; rump, upper tail- 

 coverts, and entire under surface pale yellowish ; cen- 

 tral tail feathers blue, the second pair blue with black 

 inner webs ; the remainder more or less deep blue on 

 their outer webs, becoming pale blue towards their 

 extremities and white at the tips ; beak, pale horn 

 colour ; feet, dark brown ; iris, brown. 



The female is slightly smaller than the male, but, 

 excepting that she is a trifle duller, is very similarly 

 coloured, it is probable that, as with the preceding 

 species, her beak is less swollen at the sides than in 

 the male. Hab., Victoria to New South Wales and the 

 interior. 



The young are greener than the adults with narrower 



