THE RED-WINGED PARRAKEET. 157 



take their own part, as I soon found, and against 

 all comers. 



They are handsome creatures, these Blood- or Red- or 

 Crimson-wings, as they are indifferently named, and 

 may be briefly described as of a grass-green body 

 colour, including the head, breast, neck, belly, and 

 upper and lower tail-coverts: the back and mantle are 

 very dark green, the rump is light blue, and the upper 

 and middle wing-coverts are deep crimson. 



Such is the plumage of the male in full adult con- 

 dition, and the female is like him, except as regards 

 the red on the wings, which she almost entirely lacks. 

 The young resemble their mother, and it is impossible 

 to say of a given specimen if it is a hen, or a young 

 cock in immature plumage. 



Anton Jamrach rarely made a mistake when picking 

 out a pair for me, but on this occasion he did, for the 

 one he thought was the female moulted into full male 

 plumage about six months afterwards in my aviary. 



I kept them for some time after the adventure I 

 have described, and then I had to get rid of them. 

 Subsequently a lady sent me a very fine male, which, 

 unfortunately, had fallen into the bad habit of plucking 

 himself, and had made his neck and breast perfectly 

 bare, so that he looked like one of those bare-necked 

 chickens known, I believe, by the name of Vulture- 

 Fowl, of which specimens were shown at the Crystal 

 Palace Poultry Show a few years since. 



