PSITTACIN^E. 27 



Length of tail without the two centre feathers, 3| inches, 

 „ of tarsus, half an inch. 

 „ of middle toe, 11 lines. 



These handsome birds are not uncommon in Labuan ; and 

 are to be seen in the early morning flying about above the tops 

 of the trees in small flocks of six or eight, uttering in their 

 flight a loud quick scream, very much like the note of the 

 common Swift. They are particularly fond of the fruit of 

 the Dryabalanops camphora, which they split open, and eat 

 the curious crumpled cotyledons in spite of their pungent 

 taste and smell of turpentine. The specimen from which the 

 above description is taken, was shot when feeding upon the 

 seeds of the Dillenia speciosa, a shrub about ten or fifteen 

 feet high, and it is the only instance in which we have known 

 them venture so near the ground ; when first seen, he was 

 busy opening the capsules of the plant and scraping out the 

 seeds with his beak, never omitting to clip ofi" at a single bite 

 every one he emptied ; having done this, he dropped himself 

 under the twig he sat on, swinging by one leg to watch it 

 fall : when it reached the ground he testified his satisfaction by 

 a low chirp, and giving himself a vigorous swing caught the 

 perch with his other foot, and walked gravely along to another 

 capsule, not hopping but placing one foot before the other in 

 a most old-fashioned way. Another of these Parrakeets, 

 which had been pinioned by a shot without being otherwise 

 injured, was placed in a cage, where, soon finding his two 

 long tail-feathers to be an incumbrance, he deliberately turned 

 round, pulled them out, and then walked round the cage 

 evidently to try the eflect of his contrivance. 



Sub-fam. Psittacinse. 

 Gen. Psittaculus. 



Psittaculus galgulus. 



Sapphire crowned Psittacule (Selby, Nat. Lib. 1836). 



General colour, bright green ; on the crown of the head is a spot 

 of bright blue, and at the lower part of the nape a crescent-shaped 

 spot of orange colour ; the lower part of the throat and the upper 

 tail-covers, which extend nearly to the tip of the tail, are bright red, 

 each feather being yellow at the base ; the upper part of the wings 

 and tail are green like the general colour of the body, the primary 



