BuLLER. — On a new Species of Farrakeet in New Zealand. 219 



Art. XXVIII. — Notice of a new Species of Farraheet in New Zealand. 

 ' By Walter L. Buller, D.Sc, F.L.S., etc. 



Plate YIII. 



[Read "before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 22nd December, 1874.] 



Whilst I was in England superintending the publication of my Birds of New- 

 Zealand, Mr. Dawson Bowley of Chichester House, Brighton, forwarded to 

 me for inspection the skin of a Parrakeet, received from the South Island, 

 which, on account of its small size, he took to be a new or hitherto 

 undescribed species. On examination it proved to be only a small example 

 of Platycercus novce-zealandice — corresponding in fact with Gray's so-called 

 Platycercus aucMandicus — and in returning the specimen to Mr. Bowley I 

 could only express my regret that he was doomed to disappointment. 



Since my return to the colony, however, my attention has been directed to 

 a very large series of Parrakeets collected in the Canterbury Province by Mr. 

 F. B. Fuller and his assistants ; and, after making due allowance for the great 

 variation in size which members of this genus exhibit, I am unable to come 

 to any other conclusion than that there really does exist another species, 

 having similar plumage to Platycercus novce-zealandice, but so much smaller in 

 size as to be even less than some examples of the yellow-fronted Parrakeet 

 (P. auriceps). 



The following are the measurements of a specimen in the Canterbury 

 Museum : — 



Length 



Wing from flexure 



Tail 



Bill along the ridge 



Tarsus 



Longer fore-toe and claw 



Longer hin(J-toe and claw 



A better idea of the relative size may be formed when I state that the 

 bill in this bird holds an intermediate position between figs. 6 and 7, Plate 

 VIII., and that the general proportions of the body bear a corresponding 

 relation thereto. 



Mr. Fuller, who has dissected some hundreds of these Parrakeets, informs 

 me that the bones of this small red-fronted species are easily distinguished 

 from those of Platycercus novce-zealandice, being decidedly weaker and more 

 slender — resembling, in fact, those of P. auriceps and P. alpinus. 



It may also be mentioned that all the specimens of the supposed new 

 species have come from one part of the country — Canterbury North— and 





.. 9-5 



inches 





... 4-75 









.. 5 









... -55 









.. -65 









.. 1 









... -9 







