BuLLER.—O»x Platycercus unicolor. 121 
a broad central streak of blackish brown, thus indicating a transition to the 
more variegated plumage ; and Dr. Garland, who dissected the specimen, 
informs me that it proved to be a male. 
There is no specimen of Ardetta maculata in the British Museum ; and 
Mr. Gould informs me that his only examples of the bird were sent with the 
rest of his Australian collection to America many years ago. I have not, 
therefore, had any opportunity of investigating the subject further in this 
country. 
Авт. XX VII — Note on Platycercus unicolor in the British Museum. 
By Warrer L. Burer, D.Sc., F.L.S, ete. 
(With Illustrations.) 
[Received by the Wellington Philosophical Society, March, 1874.]* 
On my first visit, in company with the late Mr. G. R. Gray, to the fine 
collection of Parrakeets in the galleries of the British Museum, a mounted 
specimen standing on the same shelf with Platycercus nove-zealandie and 
P. awriceps immediately arrested my attention. My companion informed 
me that this was the type of Platycercus unicolor (Vigors), and that it was 
supposed to have come from New Zealand. On further enquiry I found that 
the bird had come to the Museum from the Zoological Society’s Gardens, 
where it had lived for some time ; that its origin was unknown, and that the 
specimen was quite unique. It will be seen, therefore, that there is no authority 
for regarding it as a New Zealand Ыга; although, from the close relation it 
bears to P. nove-zealandic, it may, I think, be fairly inferred that it belongs 
to the same zoological province, and is an inhabitant of some part of Polynesia. 
It must be borne in mind that our P. nove-zealandie is not confined to New 
Zealand, but spreads over about thirty-two degrees of latitude, the range of 
the species extending from Macquarrie Island (lat. 55? S.) to New Caledonia 
(lat. 23° 8.). 
My present object in bringing the species before the notice of the Society 
is to prevent its being again confounded with Platycercus nove-zealandie, 
from which it is unquestionably distinct. In my “ Further Notes on the 
Ornithology of New Zealand,” published in a former volume of the 
“Transactions” (Trans. N.Z. Inst, Vol. IIL, pp. 87—56), I stated that 
Dr. Finsch’s supposition of its being the ordinary young state of P. nove- 
zealandie was entirely incorrect; but I expressed, at the same time, a belief 
* Dated at’London 30th December, 1873, 
Q 
