A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF NEPAL. 241 



Bill dark red ; the lower mandible darker than the upper, and 

 dusky at the tip; cere yellowish fleshy ; maro-ins of eyelids 

 orange ; irides pale yellow, with an inner grey ring ; feet sullied 

 yellowish grey ; claws plumbeous at base, dusky at tips. 



Three females. — Length, 16 to 16'5 ; expanse, 19'8 to 20*3; 

 wing) 6*53 to 6'8 ; tail, 8"7 to 9*4 ; tarsus, 0-6 ; bill from gape, 

 0'73 to 0"75 ; anterior margin of cere to point of bill, straight, 

 0*85 to 0"9 ; cere on culmen, 0*1 to 0*15 ; depth of closed bill, 

 0-8 to 0-84 ; closed wings short of tail, 5-75 to 6-35. 



Bill, upper mandible dark red, lower i-eddish dusky ; edges 

 of eyelids orange ; irides pale yellow with a pupillary ring of 

 grey ; feet pale fleshy grey ; claws dusky at tips, grey . horny 

 at their bases. 



All these specimens were shot towards the end of Decem- 

 ber and were most satisfactorily sexed, the birds being apparent- 

 ly quite adult and the sexual organs prominent. The males had 

 a rose demi-coUar, much the same colour as in nipalensis, but 

 paler and narrower ; black stripes from the base of the lower 

 mandible meeting at the chin, and a fine black streak from 

 nostril to eye. The blue on the head varied from a band above 

 the rose ring to a washing extending to the crown, and was 

 continued round in front to the junction of the black stripes. 

 The females had a narrow emerald green ring round the neck ; 

 but had no blue on the head, no rose collar, and no black band 

 in front. Neither sex showed any trace of a red shoulder spot. 

 The Rose-ringed Paroquet is found in great numbers in the 

 plains of Nepal near the Tarai, and a few birds stray into the 

 lower part of the SM forest ; but it is not found in the lower 

 hills, the great valley, or the Nawakot district at any season 

 of the year. In winter it swarms in thousands in the plains of 

 Nepal, going about in parties or large flocks, and constantly 

 uttering its harsh screaming cry. It frequents hedges, bamboo 

 clumps, mangoe topes, stubble fields and haystacks. 



On the 20th December I was encamped in a large tope at 

 Parwanipur, which was evidently a favourite roosting place of 

 this Paroquet ; for, notwithstanding all the noise and bustle of 

 a large camp, the birds flew into the trees about dusk in 

 hundreds, and the fearful din they made in settling down 

 could only be compared in its violence to a storm at sea. 



149.— Palseornis purpureus, P. L. S, Mull. 



Three malesy Nawakot district, 29th November. — Length, 14 

 to 15-1 ; expanse, 16*9 to 17-2 ; wing, 5-8 to 6-0 ; tail, 8 to 9-5 ; 

 tarsus, 0'48 to 0*5 ; bill from gape, 0-65 to 0*66 ; from anterior 

 margin of cere to point of bill, 0*67 to 0*7 ; closed wings short 

 of tail, 5-4 to 6-8. 



