P A R R T. 



401 



green on the upper part, with (ho head, neck, and 

 wing-coverts pale greenish blue. The primary quills 

 have black tips. The under parts are of a very clear 

 pale green. The smaller coverts of the wings are 

 yellow ; and there is a spot of the same colour on 

 each shoulder. A circle round the eye is rose-colour, 

 the bill red, and the feet black. It is very doubtful 

 whether this species occurs on any part of conti- 

 nental Asia ; for the specimens of it which have 

 reached Europe have been brought from the oriental 

 isles. 



Double-collared Parakeet (P. bitor<inatux'). There 

 is some doubt about this species also ; and some of 

 the authorities speak of it as a native of the Mauritius. 

 But birds and other productions of India and the 

 Indian islands have been so often brought from the 

 isles on the east of Africa, or the Cape of Good 

 Hope, as native productions of these places, that it is 

 very difficult to discover the truth in the case of some 

 of the rarer ones, of which only a specimen or two 

 have been seen. All the upper plumage of this spe- 

 cies is deep green ; and the tiiroat is black, surrounded 

 by a double collar, the upper portion of which is 

 bright blue, and the under oae brilliant rose-colour. 

 The under sides of the wings and tail are olive green, 

 the belly olive brown, the bill red above and brown 

 below, and the feet black. The length is about thir- 

 teen inches. 



Ring P(ir(t;-.-t:ct (P. torqitatu&). This is another 

 species of which the geographical distribution is not 

 completely decided. Some of the authorities say 

 that it is found in western Africa, as well as in India ; 

 but, if it occurs in the former country, it is an ano- 

 maly, as all the others which have the middle feathers 

 of the tail much produced belong to the south-cast 

 of Asia, or to the islands still to the south and east. 

 The name, ringed, is also inapplicable ; because all 

 the parakeets, with long middle feathers in the tail, 

 have more or less of a collar on the neck. The plu- 

 mage of this one is pale green, with the throat and 

 collar black, bordered with rose-colour on the hind 

 neck ; and there is a black streak from the gape to 

 the eye. The quills are deep green on the upper 

 sides, and greyish on the under. The middle tail, 

 feathers are bluish green, and lateral ones yellowish 

 green on the upper sides, but the whole are yellow on 

 the under. The flanks are also yellow, and the bill is 

 red, except the tip of the lower mandible, which is 

 black. 'Hie length is about fifteen inches. The fe- 

 males and the young are entirely green, or green with 

 a few partial mottlings of yellow. 



Some of the parakeets of this form which occur in 

 the eastern islands and in New Holland differ a little 

 in their general appearance and expression from the 

 Indian ones. Their bills are, generally speaking, 

 more slender, and also their bodies ; the middle tail- 

 feathers more produced, and the whole expression 

 softer. We can afford room for only a single species 

 of each, as a specimen. 



Molucca Parakeet (P. Molucccnsis], This light and 

 beautiful species, which is one of the most delicate in 

 appearance of the whole race, is found in the Mo- 

 lucco or Spice Islands, and several adjoining parts 

 of the Oriental Archipelago, though some recent 

 copyists have described it as being a native of Ma- 

 lacca, and so being a town-bred bird, instead of a 

 country one. This would be a curious new fact in 

 natural history; for we are not aware of any one 

 species of bird having its primary origin in a town ; 



NAT. HIST. VOL. III. 



and there is very good reason \v!iy there should not, 

 because birds were made before towns were built. A 

 cap on the top of the head of this one is shining 

 green. The hind head and neck are vioiet rose- 

 colour, with a curve of black descending from the 

 base of the lower mandible and turning backward ; 

 the back, throat, and breast bright green ; the wing- 

 coverts green, with yellowish margins to the leathers ; 

 the quills blue at their bases, and blackish toward 

 their extremities ; the long tail feathers bright violet 

 blue, the lateral ones yellowish green ; the flanks 

 yellowish ; the upper mandible red, and the under 

 one of yellowish brown. The length of this species 

 is about seventeen inches, of which the tail occupies 

 considerably more than half. It is a light bird for 

 its lateral dimensions ; and its wings are long and 

 | powerful for its weight, so that it floats in the air 

 like a meteor. A bird so capable of ranging about 

 is not likely to be confined to any very narrow lo- 

 cality ; but probably extends from Sumatra on the 

 west to New Guinea on the east. This bird affords a 

 striking instance of the mischief which is done to 

 the geography of animals by the absurd custom of 

 naming an animal after the particular locality from 

 which the first specimen was obtained, while the ani- 

 I mal itself has a much wider range. If we take the 

 Indian Archipelago as extending from Sumatra to 

 New Guinea, the Moluccos are only a few little 

 specks in it ; and, though the Dutch are said to have 

 j been very 'successful in extirpating each of the more 

 valuable species from all the islands except one, the 

 parakeets have too much power of themselves in the 

 air for suffering even a "flying Dutchman " to extir- 

 pate them from any one island they choose to inhabit ; 

 and, therefore, it is highly probable that every species 

 is distributed over a pretty wide extent ; and not 

 only so, but it is highly probable that these 

 birds as well as the other forest birds of the same 

 parts of the world, shift their localities with the 

 monsoons. 



Swaiiisoiis Parakeet (P. Swainsonu), This is a very 

 handsome species, a native of New Holland ; and it 

 is somewhat, different in character from the species of 

 India and the Indian Islands. The most obvious 

 difference is in the tail, of which the two middle 

 feathers are not so much longer than the rest as in 

 the others ; while the lateral feathers of the tail have 

 much more tendency to spread. From this structure 

 of the tail, in which the bird makes a slight approach 

 to the broad-tailed parrots of Australia, we would 

 naturally conclude that it alights more frequently on 

 the ground than those of India and the Isles. This 

 is further confirmed by the character of the feet, 

 which have the tarsi longer, and the articulations of 

 the toes with less lateral motion, than those birds 

 which are exclusively perchers and climber?. Wo 

 are, however, in perfect ignorance as to the habits of 

 the bird ; nor do we know exactly to what particular 

 parts of the East it extends. Australia is named as 

 its residence ; and certainty the expansile tail and 

 the firm feet would suit it for subsisting in that coun- 

 try, where, at certain seasons of the year at least, 

 even a parakeet must in part seek its food in those 

 farinaceous roots, the tops of which are left leafless 

 above the barren surface during the long and severe 

 drought to which the country is subject. This spe- 

 cies is about sixteen inches in length, of which the 

 tail measures nine. The upper mandible is red on 

 the sides, and yellowish in the culmen ; and the lower 

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