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inclics; wing, from flexure, 5-25; tail 6; culmen -8; tarsus S ; longer fore toe and claw 1-15 j longer 



hind toe and claw 1 . 



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Younff. The plumage of the young bird does not differ appreciably from that of the adult. Dr. Finsch's 

 surmise that Platycercus unicolor might prove to be the young of this species is therefore erroneous. I 

 have examined the type specimen of P. unicolor in the British Museum, and am quite satisfied that it is 

 a good species, very readily distinguishable from P. novce zealandice by its more robust form and more 

 powerful mandibles, independently of its uniform green colour. This specimen is quite unique. It was 

 received from the Zoological Society's Gardens ; but its habitat is unknown, and its inclusion in Mr. G. 

 R. Gray's '' List of New-Zealand Birds'' (Ibis, 1862) was purely conjectural. 



Varieties. Like many other members of the large natural family to w^hich it belongs, this species exhibits a 

 strong tendency to variability of colour j and the slight differences which some of the ornithologists of 

 Europe have recognized as sufficient specific characters, are clearly of no value whatever. A specimen 

 brought to me by a native, in the Kaipara district, many years ago, had the whole of the plumage of a 



brilhant scarlet-red. 



Wellingt 



green plumage thickly studded all over with spots of red ; this handsome bird was caged, and at the 

 first moult the whole of the spots disappeared. An example of this species in the British Museum has 

 the abdomen and under tail-coverts bright yellow mixed with green j the thigh-spots very large and 

 bright j the rump stained, and the tail obscurely banded on the upper surface, with dull yellow. 



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Obs, The synonymy of the genus Platycercus^ as may be seen above, has been involved in much confusion. 

 We are indebted to Dr. Otto Finsch, of Bremen, for a complete elucidation of the subject, in his able 

 ^^ Monograph of the Psittacidse" (Die Papageien, ii. p. 275, 1868) . Examples of PL nova zealandim vary 

 much in size and in the depth of their colouring. The shade of the prevailing green, the brilliancy of 

 the crimson vertex, and the extent of red colouring on the ear-coverts, and of blue on the wings, are 

 alike variable. PL aucMandicus ^ of Bonaparte, is undoubtedly referable to this species j and I have no 

 doubt that Dr. Finsch is right in his determination of PL saisseti (Verreaux) as being also inseparable. 

 I am further of opinion that PL forsteri^ admitted with some hesitation by Dr. Einsch, and founded on 

 a, single example in the British Museum, is nothing but PL novm zealandice^ with the red uropygial 

 spots accidentally absent. 



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The Red-fronted Parrakeet is very genGrally dispersed over the whole country — but is more plen- 

 tiful in the southern portion of the North Island than in the far north, where the yellow-fronted 

 species predominates. It frequents every part of the bush, but appears to prefer the outskirts, 

 where the vegetation is low and shrubby, as also the wooded margins of creeks and rivers. It is 

 often met with among the dense koromiko (Veronica) which covers the low river-flats^ or among 

 the brushes of Leptospermum and other scrub. It seldom ventures beyond the shelter of the 

 woods, unless it be to visit the farmer's fields for its tithe of grain, or to reach some distant 

 feeding-place, when it rises rather high in the air and flies rapidly, but in a rather zig-zag course. 

 When on the wing it utters a hurried chattering note ; and when alarmed, or calling to its fellows, 

 it emits a cry resembling the words " twenty-eight," with a slight emphasis on the last syllable. 

 It often resorts to the tops of the highest trees, but may always be enticed downwards by imitating 

 this note. It is gregarious, forming parties of from three to twelve, or more, in number, except 

 in the breeding-season, when it is generally met with in pairs. 



I 2 



