1. CHALCOPSITTACUS ATER 



(THE BLACK LOEY.) 

 [Plate I. Fig. 1.] 



Black Lory, Latham, Synopsis, i. p. 221, n. 23 (1781). 



Le Lori noir cle la Nouvelle Guinee, Sonnerat, Voyage a la Nouv. Guinee, p. 175, 



pi. 110 (1776). 

 Le Lori noir, Levaillant, Hist. Nat. cles Perroquets, vol. Li. pi. 49 (1801). 

 Psittacus ater, Scopoli, Delicias Flor. et Faun. Insubricse, pars ii. p. 87, no. 29 (1786). 

 Psittacus nova guinea, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. tom. i. p. 319, no. 63 (1788). 

 Lorius novce guinea, Stephens in Shaw's Zool. vol. xiv. part i. p. 132 (1826). 

 Platycercus nova guinea, Wagler, Monograph. Psittacorum, p. 491 and p. 534 (1832). 

 Platycercus ater, G. R. Gray, Genera of Birds, ii. p. 408, n. 23 (1846). 

 Chalcopsitta nova guinea, C. L. Bonaparte, Conspectus Gen. Avium, vol. i. p. 3 (1849). 

 Chalcopsitta atra, Sclater, Journal of Proc. Linn. Soc. (Zool.), vol. ii. p. 165, sp. 110 



(1858). 

 Eos ater, G. R. Gray, List of Birds in Brit. Mus. p. 53 (1859). 

 Eos atra, G. R. Gray, Cat. of Birds of New Guinea, pp. 40 & 59 (1859). 

 Lorius ater, IT. Schlegel, Mus. d'LTist. Nat. des Pays-Bas, vol. iii. p. 129 (1864). 

 Domicella atra, Finsch, Papageien, vol. ii. p. 755 (1868). 

 Chalcopsittacus ater, T. Salvaclori, Annali del Mus. Civico Genova, vol. x. p. 34 (1877) ; 



id. Ornitologia della Papuasia, i. p. 269 (1880) ; PteicheDOw, Vogelhild. t. xi. fig. 5 



(1878-83) ; Salvaclori, Cat. of Birds in Brit. Mus. vol. xx. p. 13 (1891). 



Head, back, breast, and abdomen black ; quills with no red on the inner web ; tibiae black. 



Habitat. New Guinea, especially towards the west, with the islands of Salwatty, Sorong, and Batanta. 



This most sombre of the whole family of the Lories is one of the oldest known, having 

 been described and figured by Sonnerat in his account of his voyage to New Guinea, on 

 which he set out in June 1771. 



It is said to be common in certain localities, flying through the woods and frequenting 

 the smaller branches and branchlets of the trees. It seems frequently to approach human 

 habitations : hence it is often caught, when it is easily domesticated and shows itself gentle 

 and attractive. 



Its colour is almost uniform black, with a purple gloss, there being no red on the wings 

 or abdomen ; the head is also black ; the uropygium dark purple ; the feathers of the breast 

 have violet-purple margins; the upper and under tail-coverts are dark purple-blue ; the tail 



