

THE VAZA PARRAKEET. 



Platycercus Vasa. \'ig. 



The group of Parrots to which this rare and interest- 

 ing species belongs was first distinguished by Mr. Vigors 

 about five years ago, while engaged in his examination 

 of the extensive collection of Australian birds deposited 

 in the Museum of the Linnean Society. Most of its 

 typical species are natives of New Holland, but a few 

 are scattered over the islands of the Pacific Ocean, and 

 the present bird, a native of Madagascar, and perhaps 

 also of South Africa, serves geographically as well as 

 naturally to connect them with the even-tailed Parrots 

 of the African continent. On the other hand they are 

 united, as Mr. Vigors has pointed out, by means of the 

 Pacific species with strikingly graduated tails, to the 

 Indian group typically represented by the Alexandrine 

 Parrakeet. Their moie immediate station seems to be 



