10 



DIE PAPAGEIEN. 



and Continental portion of India (I cannot speak with certainty 

 as to what species inhabits the Peninsular) and the other from 

 Burmah and the Andamans. 



The following brief particulars will, perhaps, suffice to show 

 how the males of these three species may be distinguished : 



Localities. 



Black mandi- 

 bular stripe. 



Neck band. 



Side of head 

 and cheeks. 



Ceylon ? Southern Comparatively Narrow, dull pink, 

 India. narrow and not surmounted 



ill-defined. by a conspicuous 



blue band. 



Base of throat below 

 curve of mandi- 

 bular stripes. 



Green, more or A slightly yellowish 

 less dingy. green. 



Raipoor, Kaladoon- Very broad Broad, pale rose Green, more or Dingy yellowish, 



gee, Kumaon, and strong- pink, surmount- less suffused 



Dehra Dhoon, ly defined. ed by a broad with glau- 



Jheelum, and ? glaucous blue cous blue. 



Sikhim. band. 



Andamans, Cocos Narrow, well 

 ? Thyetmyo. defined. 



Narrow ; bright Bright green, 

 almost crimson 

 pink, surmount- 

 ed by a narrow 

 sky-blue band. 



Bright yellow. 



Besides these distinctions, the bills in the two latter species are 

 nearly half as big again as in the first, and the wing-spot in 

 magnirostris is altogether a brighter red than in the two former. 



When we come to the females, the Ceylon bird is altogether so 

 mucji smaller, that it cannot be confounded with those of the 

 other species. In the Ceylon females, the wings do not appear 

 to exceed 7*8, in the other two species, they vary from 8T to 8*4. 

 Comparing the females of magnirostris and sivalensis (or what- 

 ever name the race may ultimately have to bear) the color of the 

 wing-spot of magnirostris is so much brighter, that the birds 

 can be separated by this alone at once. Moreover, the sides of 

 the head in the female sivalensis are duller, and greyer than in 

 magnirostris. 



As to sivalensis, I am not quite sure whether the bird from 

 Sikhim, which is Hodgson's nipalensis, ought to be included with 

 the birds from the other localities above enumerated. The bill is 

 very large, the mandibular black stripe is also very strongly 

 defined, but the pink of the neck is rather brighter than in 

 true sivalensis, the blue band is reduced to a mere trace, and 

 there is scarcely even a trace of the glaucous tinge on the 

 cheeks and sides of the head which so conspicuously distinguishes 

 sivalensis, Hutton. If, however, the two are considered to be- 

 long to the same species, Hodgson's name nipalensis would have 

 priority, but there still remains Gmelin's name sonnerati which 

 may possibly be considered to apply to this species. From 

 Southern India I have unfortunately no specimens, but from 



