PAL.EORNIS CYANOCEPHALUS. 175 



Female. Less than the male ; wing 4-9 to 5-1 inches. Upper mandible yellow; lower dusky or blackish. The cap 

 is dull plum-blue, wanting the black collar and mandibular stripe, and bounded by a yellow ring clearly defined 

 on the sides of the neck ; back brownish green ; wings wanting the red shoulder-spot ; chest washed with 

 yellowish. 



Young. The nestling is clothed with green feathers ; the bill is at first black, changing in the male, at about a fort- 

 night old, into yellow. 



The bird of the year has the bill greenish yellow, dusky along the culmen ; iris white, tinged with green ; legs and feet 



plumbeous green. 

 Plumage green throughout, brightest on the rump and lower back, paling slightly on the forehead, and with the hue 



of the hind neck rather light, contrasting somewhat with the dark green of the nape ; the central tail-feathers 



are rather short and washed with blue, the tips being whitish. 

 In the next stage the forehead becomes paler and the head bluish, with a dusky edge bordering the lower mandible ; 



the central rectrices are blue, as in the adult, but with less of the white colour at the extremities. 

 Lutinos of this Parrakeet are occasionally met with. A beautiful example, in perfect luteous plumage, was given to 



His Eoyal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh by the Mudliyar Jayetilke of Kurunegala. 



Obs. Ceylonese examples of this Parrakeet are, as a rule, smaller than Indian, among which northern birds seem to 

 be the largest. The w'ings of five males from India are as follows — Madras, 5 - 3 inches ; Bengal, 5 - 4 ; Bengal, 

 5-5 ; Nepal, 5 - 7 ; Nepal, 5-3 : those of two females — Bengal, 5-2 ; " India," 5-4. The coloration of the rose and 

 blue cap corresponds with that in the insular bird. 



The Burmese bird, the Pal. rosa of Boddaert, founded on plate 888, PI. Enl., which was long confounded with this species, 

 has the head less covered with the azure hue, the axillaries and wing-liuing blue, and the female has the red 

 wing-spot as well as the male. Mr. Blyth, who published a remark on the subject in the ' Ibis,' 1870, appears 

 to have brought the fact of these differences to the notice of Mr. Gould. Both species are beautifully figured in 

 Mr. Gould's great work on the ' Birds of Asia ;' but unfortunately in the letterpress the specific names have, I 

 conclude, by a lapsus calami become inverted ; the Indian bird is called rosa and the Burmese cyanocephalus. 

 He remarks, in the commencement of his article on the Indian bird headed Pal. rosa, that it should bear the name 

 of P. cyanocephalus, founded on the " Perruche a tete bleue," Brisson, Orn. iv. p. 359, pi. 19. fig. 2 ; so that the 

 mistake is apparent at a glance. The Burmese bird Pal. rosa is, I observe, styled Pal. bengalensis by writers in 

 ' Stray Feathers,' this name being in reality a s3Tionym of Pal. cyanocephalus. 



Distribution. — This beautiful Parrakeet is abundant in many parts of the low country, and tolerably 

 plentiful in the coffee- districts up to an elevation of about 4000 feet. It is not, as a rule, found very near 

 the sea-coast. In the Galle district it is first met with about 15 miles inland, and is common from there up 

 to the Morowak Korale, wherein the country and vegetation suit its habits. In the interior of the Western 

 Province, from Aviswella to Ratnapura and through the Saffragam valley to the district lying to the south 

 of Haputale, as also in the Pasdun and Raygam Korales, it is a common bird. I have seen it about 10 miles 

 inland from Kalatura. Mr. Parker writes me that it is not found nearer Puttalam than Uswewa, aud 

 northward of this it keeps to about the same distance from the sea; further inland about Kurunegala and in 

 most parts of the Seven Korales, as well as along the base of the hills to Dambulla, it is tolerably plentiful. 

 Beyond Anaradjapura it becomes scarcer, being only found in certain suitable localities. In the Jaffna 

 peninsula I have not seen nor beard of it. It appears not to be found near Trincomalie, but to the south of 

 the Virgel I once met with it, and that, too, at no great distance from the sea. It is not uncommon in the 

 Eastern Province and about Nilgalla. In the Magam Pattu it frecpients the cheenas of the natives. As 

 regards the Central Province, it is common in the Knuckles, Pusselawa, Deltota, Maturata, and other districts 

 round Kandy. In the vicinity of Badulla and in Madulsima it is likewise tolerably plentiful. 



On the continent Jerdon says that " it is found more or less throughout India, extending into the 

 Himalayas." It is common on the Malabar coast and in the jungles of the Carnatic and in the Eastern Ghats. 

 Mr. Bourdillon does not seem to have met with it in the Travancore hill-region, but Mr. Fairbank says that 

 it is common on the Palani hillsides up to 4000 feet ; the same writer remarks that it is common along the 

 hills in Khandala, and visits the Deccan at some seasons in flocks. Mr. Ball says that it is found in most 

 parts of Chota Nagpur, but at the same time it is somewhat local ; it is likewise common about the Sambhur 



