92 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



a ring of feathers around the eye blue ; lower sides of the 

 throat and neck verditer-green ; a collar on the nape and a broad 

 band on the lower breast and abdomen clear rich yellow ; feathers 

 on the chest, thighs, and the under tail coverts verditer-green 

 with yellowish centres ; bill bluish horn colour, paler at the tip ; 

 legs and feet blackish-brown. Total length of skin 13.5 inches, 

 wing 6.4, tail 7.2, bill from forehead 0.8, tarsus 0.8. 



Habitat. — From Cloncurry north to Normanton near the shore 

 of the Gulf of Carpentaria, North Queensland. 



Remarks. — Judging by the bill and feet it is apparently a very 

 old bird, and by the abraded outer primary and some of the 

 lateral tail-feathers, is hardly through the moult. 



In general colour P. macgillivrayi resembles P. occidentalis, 

 described by me from North-west Australia — Rec. Austr. Mus., 

 vol. ii., p. 83 (1893) — but has the head almost uniform in 

 colour with the upper parts, instead of blackish-brown as in that 

 species. P. bamardi, its nearest ally on the eastern side of the 

 continent, differs from P. macgillivrayi in having the forehead 

 red in all stages of its plumage, from the nestling to the adult, 

 although very much paler in the former and increasing in depth 

 of colour with age ; in having only the anterior portion of the 

 cheeks washed with blue, the yellow band on the abdomen 

 narrower and more or less deeply tinged with orange, the lesser 

 wing-coverts deep blue, and the back bluish-grey. 



This species, which I have named after its discoverer, Mr. 

 Alexander Sykes Macgillivray, was obtained by him at Leilavale 

 station, on the Fullarton River, about 30 miles east of Cloncurry 

 township, North Queensland. It will be known by the vernacular 

 name of Macgillivray's Parrakeet. For an opportunity of de- 

 scribing it I am indebted to Dr. VV. Macgillivray, of Hamilton, 

 Victoria, who has at various times kindly sent me specimens for 

 examination that were collected by his brother in the same district. 

 With the above described specimen Dr. Macgillivray has sent me 

 the following note : — " My brother states these birds are common 

 about Cloncurry, and he has noted them to within a short distance 

 of Normanton, near the shore of the Gulf of Carpentaria." 



It is remarkable that the genus Platycercus, so well represented 

 in the southern portion of the continent, has hitherto had only a 

 single representative, P. amathusice, in the Gulf district — Ramsay, 

 Tab. List Austr. Bds., p. 16 (1888). This species, too, must be 

 extremely rare, for I can find no record of a single example being 

 obtained there ; neither is there to be found a specimen from that 

 district in the Australian Museum or Macleay Museum, or of 

 any other species of Platycercus. 



In vol. xx. of the " Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum," 

 Count Salvadori has adopted Bonaparte's subdivision of the 

 Platycerci, placing P. bamardi, P. semitorquatus, and P. zouarius 

 in the genus Barnardius, in which, therefore, he would include my 



