156


to green towards the tail ; two central tail feathers dark olive

green, dark blue, and tipped with black ; a large golden-yellow

patch on each wing ; sides of face, neck, breast, bright blue

down to abdomen which, with thighs, is whitish barred with

deep red ; some of the blue on sides of face and neck tinged

with brilliant green ; eyes dark ; bill light with bluish or greenish

tinge ; flights dark with bluish or bluish white (or yellow) edges ;

length slightly over nine inches.


Adult female. Crown brownish ; frontal band and wash

around the e5^es, yellowish white. In my living specimen the

bill and throat are nearly white, and the cheeks and sides of face

white with a faint blue wash, so that as she holds herself erect

after the manner of her species the face generally seems

exceedingly fair, and sets off the brown cap to perfection ; the

rest of her front down to the abdomen is washed more decidedly

with blue, and the abdomen and thighs are barred with faint red,

the under tail-coverts being tinged with the same colour, while

the general appearance of the under side of the closed tail is

light blue tipped with black, the latter being caused by the two

central feathers, mostly black underneath, projecting beyond the

others ; and there is also a black bar across the base of the tail

underneath, differing in shape and width with the movements of

the bird, according to the amount exposed or hidden by the

coverts. The upper parts of the bird are j^ellow-green, the

yellow predominating here and there, especially on the wings,

but the yellow wing-patch is not so bright as in the male, nor

so well defined. The deep blue-black edge of the wing, the black

tail-tip, and the beautiful blue lower-back and upper tail-coverts(£-),

shew up grandly against the general light body-colour of the

bird. Feet and legs, pale whity-brown. It is impossible not to

notice a marked difference in the shades of the plumage of the

female at the Zoological Gardens, the skin of my dead bird, and

my living specimen, ray little female being a perfect queen

compared with the others. The delicate tints and wash-

colourings are manifestly very fleeting. A few days ago, not

deeming the colours used by our artist to be sufficiently bright,

I paid a visit to the Parrot House, and was grievously dis-

appointed to find how the birds there had deteriorated since I

saw them last summer. The male was dull and generally shabby,

and the female seemed to have entirely lost the blue tints about

the front, and was a regular dowd3^ A small cage is not the

place for such active birds. When are the members of the


(c) The colour of tliis region seems to vary greatly, even in the same individuaU

at one time the blue predominating, at another "the green.— K. P.



