PLATYCEHCUS PALLICEPS. 



(Pale-headed Parrakeet.) 



Crown of the head, very pale yellow ; feathers of the nape, back, and scapularies, black, broadly margined with gamboge yellow ; cheeks, 

 whitish; rump and upper tail coverts, yellowish white, with a tinge of blue; shoulders, rich deep blue; middle of the wing, light blue; 

 primaries, deep blue at the base, paler towards the tip ; inner webs, brown at the base ; chest and abdomen, light greenish blue ; under tail 

 coverts, scarlet ; two middle tail feathers, olive green at the base, merging into light blue towards the tip ; the outer webs of the remaining 

 feathers, deep blue at the base, becoming lighter towards the tip ; the inner webs, dark brown ; all the feathers tipped with white ; bill, horn 

 color; feet, dark brown; irides, dark brown. 



Length, 12^ inches; wing, 6i ; tail, 6|- ; tarsus, |. 



This species is widely spread over the colony of Queensland, being most plentifully found in the southern and western portions, 

 occupying the place of P. Eximius of New South "Wales, to which beautiful species it is nearly allied. It is commonly known as the Moreton 

 Bay Eosehill (corrupted into Eosella). Its plumage, especially before assuming the adult state, is exceedingly variable, so much so that any 

 one unaware of the fact would readily suppose several species to exist on inspecting the more extreme instances of variation, the same 

 being principally on the face and under surface. Sometimes the former is pure white, at other times much suifused with, or altogether, light 

 blue. The figure in Mr. Grould's supplement, which he names P. Cyanogenys, taken from a single specimen shot by Mr. Macgillivray at 

 Cape York, is probably only a variety of P. Palliceps more richly colored than usual. It is often obtained alive in the neighborhood of 

 Brisbane and Darling Downs, and bears confinement well, being a favorite and very ornamental bird for the aviary. Like others of the 

 family, it is in the habit of trespassing upon the crops of the farmer ; maize being a description of food to which it is particularly partial, and 

 on which it thrives best in the cage. It lays two white eggs, which like those of the family in general are deposited in the hole of a tree 

 (principally apple tree) in the flats. 



PLATYCERCUS ELAVEOLUS. 



(Yellow-rumped Parrakeet.) 



Forehead, crimson; cheeks, light blue ; crown, back of the neck, back, rump, upper tail coverts, and all the under surface, pale yellow, the 

 feathers of the back being black in the centre and pale yellow on their outer edges ; middle of wing, pale blue ; spurious wing and outer 

 webs of the basal part of the primaries deep violet blue, the remainder, dark brown; two central feathers of tail, tinted with green at the base, 

 passing into very pale blue at the tips ; the lateral feathers have their basal parts deep blue, passing into very pale blue at the tips, the inner 

 webs, brown for a greater or less portion of their length, the extreme tips of all being white ; bill, light horn color ; feet, dark brown. 



Length, 1 3i inches ; wing, 7 ; tail, 7i ; tarsus, f . 



This well marked and not very variable species is found in considerable numbers on the Lachlan and Darling rivers. 



