PRIONITURUS SPATULIGER. 



Philippine Racket-tailed Parrot. 



Psittacus discurus, Vieill. Gal. des Ois., t. 24. 



discosurus, Wagl. Mon. Psitt., p. 524. 



— spatuliger, fcem., Bourj. Perr., t. 53 a. 



Prioniturus discurus, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 6. 



Urodiscus spatuliger, Bonap. Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1854, p. 155. 



Prioniturus spatuliger, Gray, List of Spec, of Birds in Coll. Brit. Mus., part iii. sec. ii., Psittacida, p. It 



The above are the synonyms assigned to this bird by Mr. G. R. Gray. 



There is a marked difference between the Racket-tailed Parrots of the Philippines and those inhabiting 

 the Celebes ; and in both countries there are evidently two very distinct species. The Philippine birds 

 have even been separated generically from their more southern representatives ; but I think the grounds of 

 this generic distinction are untenable, and I consequently retain them under one generic title — that of 

 Prioniturus. 



Specimens of the bird represented on the opposite Plate were brought from Manilla by Mr. Napper, and, 

 if I mistake not, also from the southern Island of Mindanao ; from my hands a male and a female of this 

 species passed into the National Collection, where all the species of the genus may be seen and consulted 

 by ornithologists. The P. spatuliger is a stout, thick-set bird, and is nearly uniform in colouring as regards 

 the upper and under surface of the body, — the crown of the head being relieved in the male by a patch of 

 light or verditer blue, and a part of the under side of the primaries with darker blue. The female, as usual, 

 is smaller, and has the spatules of the central tail-feathers but little longer than the lateral ones. 



General plumage green ; crown verditer blue ; under surface yellowish green ; upper surface of the 

 primaries brown, washed with bluish green on their edges ; on their under surface the brown colour 

 occupies the outer web and half the breadth of the inner, the remainder being bluish green ; under surface 

 of the tail bluish green ; upper surface of the five lateral tail-feathers on each side bluish green at the base, 

 and blackish brown for the remainder of their length ; two centre feathers green, their shafts and spatules 

 blackish brown ; bill creamy white ; feet mealy grey. 



The Plate represents a male of the natural size, and a female somewhat reduced. The plant is the 

 Phalcenopsis amabilis. 



