Birds of Prince's Island. 619 



washed with inky blue." The only notes on the soft parts 

 refer to the eye, which in the adult is " yellow" or '' pale 

 orHnge-yellow/'' and in the juvenile specimen " grey/' 

 Alexander's further notes on this species have already been 

 published in the book written by his brother^ Mr. Herbert 

 Alexander^ entitled 'Boyd Alexander's Last Journey/ from 

 which 1 have culled the following : — " .... The bird 

 which this island is most noted for is the Grey Parrot. 

 Tliough still fairly numerous, this bird has no doubt de- 

 creased, owing to the forest land being gradually converted 

 into cocoa-plantations, and the planters shoot a good many 

 for eating. Keulemans, in his time out here (1865), 

 reckoned, them in thousands. ... in its habits and manner 

 of flight, etc., one would put it down to the West African 

 species [Psittacus erithacus), and that is how I think it has 

 escaped the attention of former naturalists who have visited 

 this island." 



In the original description of this Parrot the measure- 

 ments are given as, 



''Male. Wing, 235-238 mm.; tail, 100-114. 



Female. Wing, 230-235 mm.; tail, 105." 



This is obviously incorrect, as the bird is stated to be 

 larger than P. erithacus erithacus, of which the wing- 

 measurement of specimens in the British Museum from the 

 the Gold Coast, Gaboon, Angola, and Uganda vary from 

 233-256 mm. 



I have therefore carefully measured every specimen of 

 P. e. 'pvince'ps which Alexander obtained, and the correct 

 wing-measurements are as follows : — 



6 adult males, 240-253 mm.; average, 244 mm. 



5 adult females, 225-250 mm.; average, 234 mm. 



(The type-specimen [No. 10, $ , l.iii.09] has the wing- 

 measuring 240 mm.) 



It will be seen, therefore, that the Prince's Island birds^ 

 although probably on an average larger than the birds from 

 the neighbouring coast, are equalled and even surpassed iu 

 the length of the wing by examples from Uganda. 



I have " kept up " this subspecies as I consider that it is 



