82 



the portrait of the then unique specimen in the British Museum, in Lear's illustrated folio 

 monograph of Parrots, as being one of the handsomest plates in the book. 



The species appears to have no note but a low chatter, except when fighting, when 

 this is prolonged into a little scream like the cry of a Tern {Sterna frontalis). 



My captive birds seemed perfectly happy, although caged when adult. They partook 

 freely of maize and oats, also of apples, grapes, figs, and, indeed, ripe fruit of any kind. 

 They could bite severely, as I soon learned to my cost. 



Many more specimens of this interesting Parrakeet have been brought from time to 

 time by the Government steamer from Antipodes Island. Although captured as adult 

 birds they take readily to confinement, and do not fret, as most other birds do, at beino- 

 caged. I have noticed that this species has a habit of resting at night in an upright 

 position, holding on to the wires of its cage by both bill and feet. 



I am now able to give the full measurements of the two sexes, taken from specimens 

 in the flesh. 



Male. — Length, 14 in.; extent of wings, 19 in.; wing from flexure, 6 in.; tail, 6*50 in.; 

 bill, along the ridge 11 in., along the edge of the lower mandible 0*65 in.; tarsus, 1 in.; 

 longer fore-toe and claw, 1*5 in. ; longer hind-toe and claw, 1*3 in. 



Female.— Length, 12*75 in.; extent of wings, 17'5 in ; wing from flexure, 5'75 in.; 

 tail, 6 in.; bill, along the ridge 0'9 in., along the edge of lower mandible 0*55 in.; tarsus 

 0*8 in. ; longer fore-toe and claw, 1*25 in. ; longer hind-toe and claw, 1'2 in. 



I obtained possession of an egg of this species which was laid by a captive bird on 

 board the * Hinemoa ' on one of her voyages from the islands. It is perfectly white, with a 

 smooth surface, and almost spherical in shape, measuring 1 in. in length by 0*9 in. in 

 extreme width. 



In vol. ii. of ' Novitates Zoologicse,' p. 66, there is a curious note by the Hon. Charles 

 Eothschild, under the heading of 'Casual Notes on Fleas.' He says: "I have to record 

 a fine male specimen of Pnlex herguelensis, Taschb., taken from an example of the Parrakeet, 

 Cyanorhamphus unicolor (Vig.) from Antipodes Island. The species was originally described 

 by Dr. Taschenberg {Die Flohe, p. 67, pi. ii., ftg. 12) as having been found by Mr. Eaton 

 upon a Petrel, Felecanoides urinatrix (Gmel.), on Kerguelen Island. Notwithstanding the 

 immense distance separating these two islands, this additional record of P. kerguelensis, 

 when analysed, is not strange, for the Petrel is indigenous to most of the islands in or 

 near the Antarctic Ocean, and the Parrakeet lives in holes in the ground in the same 

 way as the Petrel, and probably entered a hole previously tenanted by a Petrel." 



The manner in which this Parrakeet is strictly confined to Antipodes Island is very 

 curious. There is a similar instance in the Fiji group, where a beautiful form {Pyrrhu- 

 lopsis tabuensis var. atrigularis) is found on a small wooded island, called Gau, and nowhere 

 else. During my last visit to Fiji I was fortunate enough to obtain from the natives a 

 pair of young ones just taken from the nest, which I brought with me to New Zealand 

 and succeeded in rearing.* 



om. S i fi Qr BH T UL0PSIS TABUENSIS - 0ne of the birds I brought from Levuka in October, 1897 (a male), died on July 

 9th 1898. It measured as follows :-Lengtb, 21-25 in.; extent of wings, 29 in.; wing from flexure, 975 in.; 

 tad, 9-5 in. ; culmen, 1-5 in. ; bill from gape, 1 in. ; tarsus, 1 in. 



It is a really beautiful bird and may be described as follows :- 



Young $. Head, neck all round, and the whole of the under surface rich arterial red, darker on the head, 

 becoming almost black on the forehead and lores; upper surface of body and wings rich verditer-green, with a 

 metallic sheen and changing in different lights ; the arterial red of the' neck is separated from the green by a 

 low nuchal collar of indigo-blue ; quills and tail feathers brilliant indigo or mazarine-blue, the webs of the 



