THK TYPICAL PARROTS. 161 



the Burmese has the under side of the wing as pure a 

 green as the upper. 



The Burmese Plum-head seems to have much the same 

 habits as the Indian, which is far more of a jungle-bird 

 than the Ring-neck, though it sometimes comes into 

 cultivated land and makes itself a nuisance. 



It is even swifter on the wing than the Ring-neck, and 

 has a much prettier note, which is too musical to be 

 called a screech. It breeds from March to May ; the 

 Burmese bird's breeding-season is earlier in the year. 

 Both species are fairly commonly sold in the Calcutta 

 markets, but the Eastern or pale-headed birds are usu- 

 ally the commonest, though numbers of the true Indian 

 Plum-head can be had at the beginning of the cold 

 weather. It is, however, very scarce in the English market 

 at the present time, though a good many of the Burmese 

 species have been sent home, and this kind has been 

 bred by Dr. A. Gr. Butler in an aviary. 



As aviary birds these lovely Parakeets are particularly 

 desirable, their beautiful colours, graceful form, and com- 

 paratively sweet notes being great recommendations. 

 Yellow varieties are now and then to be seen, and those 

 I have seen have generally had pink heads and red eyes ; 

 Mr. D. Ezra had a very beautiful specimen when I left 

 India, but it was to my mind less handsome than a yellow 

 Ring- neck which he also had. 



THE ROSELLA (Platycercus eximius)* is a good example 



of the broad-tailed Australian Parakeets I mentioned in 



Chapter I. The figure (Fig. 3) on Plate VII will give some 



idea of its markings, but the actual bird is quite a 



F, GAB 11 



