27 



secondaries and their coverts dtdl greenish yellow, rayed and freckled with dark brown on the outer 

 webs ; dusky brown on the inner webs, with broken transverse markings of lemon-yellow ; tail-feathers 

 yellowish brown, with arrow-shaped markings along the shaft, and largely freckled and mottled with 

 blackish brown. Irides black ; bill yellowish white, darker at the base and along the fluting of the 

 lower mandible ; tarsi and toes yellowish brown ; claws darker. Extreme length 26 inches ; wing, from 

 flexure, 12; tail 10; bill, along the ridge (from base of cere), 2, along the edge of lower mandible, 1 ; 

 tarsus V7o ; longer fore toe and claw 3 ; longer hind toe and claw 2"5. 



Obs. The sexes are alike in plumage. Individuals vary a good deal both in the brilliancy of their tints 

 and in the details of their colouring. The ground-colour of the upper parts varies from a dull sap-green 

 to a bright grass-green, and in some examples the whole of the plumage of the underparts is strongly 

 suffused with lemon-yellow. The barred character of the individual feather is more defined in some 

 specimens, while in others the light markings on the quills and tail-feathers are softened to a pale yellow. 

 Individual birds also differ perceptibly in size, owing probably to conditions of age and sex. The largest 

 example that has come under my notice is one in the possession of Mr. Potts, of Governor's Bay, and 

 which measures 29 inches in length. 



Varieties. I have examined the type specimen of Mr. G. It. Gray's Stringops greyi, in the British Museum, 

 and have come to the conclusion that it is simply an accidental variety, although a very singular one, of 

 the true S. habroptilus. The specimen is in very bad condition, the quills being much worn and 

 abraded, and the tail worn down to a mere stump ; indeed the whole of the plumage is dingy and soiled, 

 apparently the result of long confinement. The feathers of the upper parts, instead of being sap-green 

 at the ends, are of a dull greenish blue, changing in certain lights to a purplish blue. There is, more- 

 over, somewhat less of the terminal colour; and as the barred markings on the basal portion of the 

 feathers are fulvous-white instead of yellow, the back has a more variegated appearance. The entire 

 plumage of the underparts is a pale yellowish fulvous, mottled, except on the abdomen, with brown. The 

 cheeks and feathers overlapping the lower mandible are the same as in ordinary examples, but without any 

 yellow tinge. On the sides and flanks the feathers are slightly tinged with blue, but of a duller tint 

 than on the upper parts ; thighs deeply stained with yellow. The newest of the tail-feathers (i. e. the 

 stumpy portion that remains) is rayed in the same manner as in ordinary examples, but without the 

 yellow element ; showing a decided tendency to albinism. In the wing-feathers, in which also the 

 yellow colour is absent, the bars appear at first sight more regular and distinct ; but on closer examina- 

 tion it will be found that in both wings the broad inner secondaries and the scapulars have been torn 

 out (an incident doubtless of the bird's assumed captivity) , and the barred effect is therefore more con- 

 spicuous. Although, among the numerous examples that have come under my notice, I have never seen 

 one in any degree approaching this condition, yet I have detected in some a tendency in the feathers 

 of the back to assume a bluish margin, and in all specimens these feathers have a bright metallic lustre 

 on their under surface. There is no means of determining the exact length of the wing, as the long 

 primaries, on both sides, have been broken off; but the specimen does not appear to differ in size from 

 ordinary small examples of S. habroptilus. But what tends more than any thing else to convince me 

 that the so-called S. greyi is merely an abnormal or accidental variety of the species under review is the 

 fact that some of the small coverts on both wings, and the feathers of the crown, have assumed the 

 normal sap-green colour, thus betraying a strong tendency to reversion. In the absence of any other 

 examples in a similar condition of plumage, this fact appears to me of itself fatal to the recognition of 

 the species. At the same time, I should add that the difference in colour was so manifest and striking, 

 that Mr. G. R. Gray was perfectly justified in characterizing it provisionally as a distinct species, 

 although (as appears from his Catalogue of Psittacidae, 1859) he was himself of opinion that it might 

 ultimately prove a mere variety. Even Dr. Finsch, who is scrupulously careful in all his identifica- 



e2 



