Broadtails, Etc. 137 



Beautiful Parrakeet (Psephotus pulckerrimus). 

 Only one female is sexed in the Museum ; at anyrate, I failed to 

 discover the male noted in the Catalogue (the sexed female is not 

 noted) The female is altogether considerably less brightly coloured 

 than the male, with little or no red on the forehead, less on the 

 wing-coverts, abdomen and vent ; all the bright golden green in the 

 plumage is replaced by pale brassy yellowish, flecked or barred with 

 Golden ochre or red. According to Ramsay, the female is like the 

 youn^ male, and Count Salvadori describes the latter as follows :— 

 « Forehead yellowish-grey, stained with red ; sides of the head and 

 back and breast greyish, stained with greenish; flanks, abdomen, 

 and under tail-coverts pale blue, middle of the abdomen stained 

 with red ; wing-coverts greyish, stained with red ; rump, upper tail- 

 coverts, and tail as in the adult bird; quills with a white oblique 

 band on the under surface" (Catalogue of Birds, vol. xx. p. 5b5). 



Golden-shouldered Parrakeet (Psephotus chrysopterygius). 



Mr Seth-Smith thus distinguishes the female: "The female has 

 the frontal band yellowish-white ; crown brownish ; sides of the 

 head nearly white, washed with blue j under parts greenish, washed 

 with blue down to the lower abdomen and under tail-coverts, which 

 are marked with red and white, as in the male, but much fainter ; 

 back, scapulars, and upper wing-coverts yellowish-green, the yellow 

 becoming brighter on the wing-patch ; rump and upper tail-coverts 

 bright blue : primaries blackish, edged with blue on the outer web ; 

 tail as in the male" (Parrakeets, p. 206). [This book can be had 

 from this office for 40s. — Ed.] 



Many-coloured Parrakeet (Psephotus multicolor). 

 The female is smaller than the male, with much shorter beak ; 

 she is altogether duller in colour ; the frontal blue band is paler, 

 as also the blue on the shoulder of the wing and the yellow on the 

 under tail-coverts ; there is less red on the abdomen. Mr betn- 

 Smith also lays emphasis on the red patch on the wing-coverts. 

 He says : " The female is very different from the male, having the 

 upper parts mostly brownish-grey, with an olive-green tinge ; patch 

 on the wing -coverts red; frontal band reddish in some individual^ 

 yellowish in others ; some specimens have a faint patch of reddish 

 on the occiput, which is absent in others ; lower breast, abdomen 

 and under tail-coverts yellowish-green, with a bluish tinge ; a faint 

 indication of red on some of the feathers of the abdomen ; rump, 

 upper tail-coverts, and tail as in the male " (Parrakeets, pp. 210, 211). 



Red-rumped Parrakeet (Psephotus hcematonotus). 



A female according to the sex-mark on its label appears to me to 



answer to Count Salvadori's description of the young bird. The 



beak is smaller and shorter than in the male ; its head and shoulders 



are greyish-olive; there is little or no red on the rump, and no 



