140 THE ASH-COLOT7KED PAEROT. 



yellow ; the lower part of the breast and the belly are tra- 

 versed by yellow stripes of various intensity of colour. The 

 tail is rather long, and rounded at the end ; the two centre fea- 

 thers are black ; in the rest, the centre, for about a third part 

 of the whole length, is dark crimson, somewhat inclining to 

 orange, and crossed by five or six irregular black stripes, about 

 a third of an inch in breadth. 



Varieties. Of this species there are several varieties : 



a. In the first, the beak is lead-coloured : the head has a 

 moderately sized crest of black feathers, intermixed with 

 yellow ; the throat is yellow ; the sides of the head spotted 

 with black and yellow ; the whole body, with the wings, black, 

 without any marking on the belly ; the tail as in the pre- 

 ceding. 



b. In the second, the beak is blueish grey, and the general 

 colour olive or rusty black. On the sides of the head is a 

 yellowish tinge, but none of the feathers are tipped with 

 yellow, and there are no transverse stripes on the belly. The 

 tail is as above. This may possibly be a young bird. 



c . In the third which is, perhaps, only the female the beak 

 is blueish horn colour ; the head, neck, and lower part of the 

 body dirty dark brown. The feathers, on the top of the head and 

 nape of the neck, are edged with olive ; the upper part of the 

 body, the wings and the tail, are bright black. The centre 

 tail feathers are uniform in colour, the rest scarlet in the mid- 

 dle, but not striped with black. 



Observation. This noble bird, a native of various parts of 

 New Holland, is rare in England, and rarer still in Germany. 

 Its motions resemble those of the Great White Cockatoo, and 

 it may be treated in the same manner. 



43. THE ASH-COLOTJEED PAEBOT. 



Psittacus Erithacus, LIN. Perroquet cendre au Jaco, BUF. Der asch- 

 grave Papagei, BECH. 



Description. This and the following are the most common 

 and docile Parrots with which we are acquainted. It is about 

 the size of a domestic Pigeon, and nine inches in length. The 

 naked membrane and the circle of the eyes are nearly white ; 

 the iris yellowish white. The feet are ashen grey, which is 

 the prevailing colour of the whole plumage. The feathers on 



