260 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



coloured, and more of an uniform green colour, with less yelloAV ; 

 and the old males have the cap much brighter and deeper colored 

 than their juniors. 



The female has the head plum-blue, and Avants the black collar ; 

 but has a yellow demi-coUar in front, and on the sides ; and the 

 breast is much tinged with oil yellow. The young birds are green 

 throughout ; but the centre tail feathers are alwaj's blue, and 

 there is usually a faint indication of the pale collar of the female. 



Mr. Gray, in his Catalogue of the Parrots of the British Museum, 

 gives two other species of this group, viz. P. bengalensis, and 

 P. cyanocephalus, the former from Nepal ; of the latter he has 

 no specimens ; but I doubt their being distinct. 



Length 14 to 15 inches; Aving 5^; tail 8^; bill at gape f ; 

 height |. 



The Eose-headed Parrakeet is found more or less through all 

 India, extending into the Himalayas, Assam, Burmah, and Ceylon. 

 It is common in the Malabar coast, and on the Eastern Ghats, in 

 jungles in the Carnatic, also in the forests of the Northern Circars 

 and Central India, Midnapoor, and Lower Bengal. It frequents 

 jungly districts in preference to the more open parts of the country ; 

 but occurs in all the more richly-wooded cultivated districts, and 

 it generally visits those parts of the country that are tolerably 

 wooded, during the rains. It usually breeds in the jungles, but I 

 have found its nest in my own garden at Saugor. 



It has similar habits to the others, feeding on fruits and grains, 

 which it picks off the standing corn, or in the stubble-fields, off 

 the ground. It is less noisy, and has a much more pleaseant call 

 than the last. Its flight is very swift indeed, much more so that of 

 the two last. It breeds in holes of trees, from December to March, 

 and has usually four white e^o-s. 



Vast numbers are taken in all parts of the country where it 

 breeds, and are sold for caging, especially in Calcutta, where many 

 are carried off by the shipping annually. Hence, no doubt, 

 China and other countries where these birds have been seen in 

 captivity, have been erroneously given as habitats for this, as Avell 

 as sundry other Psittacidce. 



