THE



Hvicultural /BbaGasine,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



VOL. IV. — NO. 45. All rights reserved. JULY, 1898.


THE GOLDEN-SHOULDERED PARRAKEET.


(Psephohcs chrysopterygius j .


By Regina-LD Phillipps.


"We come now to a group of Australian Parrakeets wliich

are, in my opinion, the most beautiful and most desirable of all,

namely, the Psephotus Parrakeets. Of this genus there are but

five (a) species known to exist, and four {h) of these are occasionally

kept in this country. The remaining species (JR. chryi^opterygius)

is very rare, and but little seems to be known of it even in its

native land."


So read our esteemed fellow aviculturist Dr. Simpson, at

the Inns of Court Hotel, on 19th May, 1894, before the members

of the late Cage Bird Club, the same being an extract from his

excellent paper on "Parrots and Parrakeets" as it appears in

the Transactions ; and so much and no more is the sum total of

what he had to say on the subject of this article ; and yet it is of

this species, of which so little is known even in its native land,

and concerning which Dr. Simpson intimates so much by saying

so little, that our hard-hearted editor calls upon me to write an

account. Alas, and alack ! 'tis but little that I know of Psephotus

chrysopterygius.


Some time in the spring of 1897, a few specimens of what

were at first supposed to be Paradise Parrakeets reached this

country from the continent. I am probably correct when I say

that six were brought over in the first instance, 6i which two

went to the Zoological Gardens, two to one of our members who

exhibited them at the Palace last February, and the remaining

two to the most humble of your servants. Two more arrived

towards the end of June, but I do not know whither they went.


(a) A sixth species P. xartfhorrhous, is described in the Brit. Mus. Catalogue. — R. P.

{b) The Blue Bonnet {P. hcematorrhous),V}i\& Beautiful or Paradise {P. pulcherrtmus),

the Many-coloured (P. viulitcolor), and the Redrunip [P. hosmatonotus). — R. P.



