136 LE VAILLANT'S PIONUS. 



plumage, and exhibiting a most entertaining spec- 

 tacle to the observer. This ceremonial being finished, 

 they revisit the trees on which they assembled at 

 sunrise, where they sit for some time engaged in 

 adjusting and pruning their feathers. This finished, 

 they fly off in pairs, each pair retiring to its peculiar 

 roost, where they rest till morning. 



The bill is large, the culmen biangulate, the to- 

 miae sinuated, but not distinctly toothed ; its colour 

 whitish. The head, neck, and breast are of an olive 

 green colour, deepest upon the forehead and crown ; 

 the lores or space between the bill and eyes black. 

 The mantle, scapulars, and wing-coverts are brown- 

 ish-black, the feathers margined with green. The 

 lower back, upper tail-coverts, abdomen, and under 

 tail-coverts, emerald green. The ridge of the wings 

 and thighs are bright reddish-orange. The quills 

 and tail brownish-black, slightly tinged with green. 

 Legs and toes grey. 



IN addition to Wagler's genera Psittacodis, Eclec- 

 ius> and Pionus, which contain the other larger spe- 

 cies of the short even- tailed Parrots, we are inclined 

 to place in this subfamily several small species, which, 

 in Kuhl's Conspectus, form a portion of his section 

 Psittaculct) and are also included in Wagler's more 

 restricted genus of the same name. Both of these 

 groups are, however, so constituted, as to embrace 



