94 ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 



by Alexander in his celebrated expedition, and where it 

 still continues to be found, occasionally in the Peninsula 

 itself, but more commonly in the Island of Ceylon, the 

 recorded habitat of the Alexandrine bird. 



The distinctive characters of this beautiful species of 

 Parrot consist in the broad black patch occupying the 

 fore part of its throat, and extending laterally in two 

 narrow processes on each side of the neck ; in the black 

 line extending from the base of the beak to the eyes • 

 and more particularly in the deep purplish red patch at 

 the base of its wings. Its bill is larger than that of the 

 Rose-ringed Parrakeet, from which it scarcely differs 

 except in this particular, in the somewhat greater 

 breadth and deeper colouring of its rosy collar, and in 

 the dark red marking of its shoulders which is wanting 

 in the latter. The usual length of the male bird is 

 from eighteen to twenty inches : the female is smaller, 

 but does not, according to M. Le Vaillant, differ in 

 colouring. In the Rose-ringed Parrakeet, on the con- 

 trary, the female resembles the young male in being 

 destitute of the collar. The latter is not visible in 

 either species until the third year. 



The Alexandrine Parrakeet is of much rarer occur- 

 rence than several of the other species of the same 

 group. In captivity it is not readily domesticated, but 

 may be taught to speak with tolerable distinctness. 

 Like most of the Parrots it is extremely noisy. 



