107 

 9. TRICH0GL0SSUS C^RULEICEPS. 



(THE BLUE- HE AD ED LORY.) 

 [Plate XXXIV.] 



Trichoglossus cceruleiceps, D'Albertis & Salvadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. xiv. p. 41 (1879) ; 

 id. Orn. Pap. e Mol. i. p. 295 (1880); id. Cat. of Birds in Brit. Mus. xx. p. 57 

 (1891). 



Quills underneath with a yellow band towards the base ; a greenish-yellow band on the nape ; breast red, 

 its feathers yellow- tipped ; middle of the abdomen green ; head entirely blue. 



Habitat. Southern New Guinea, near the Kataw River. 



The type of this singularly beautiful species is preserved in the Museo Civico of Genoa. 

 By the great kindness of Dr. B. Gestro, it has been lent to us and bas served for our 

 Plate XXXIV., which is tbe first figure of T. cceruleiceps that has been published, and 

 represents the tyj>e of the species. 



Count Salvadori, in 1880, thought it possible that this form might be a variety of 

 T. nigrogularis, because amongst specimens of that species collected by Beccari in the 

 Ke Islands one individual had the head almost entirely blue. 



The species was discovered by Signor D'Albertis in the vicinity of the Kataw Biver, in 

 Southern New Guinea. Though various individuals were observed, only a single specimen 

 was taken ; that was preserved at Genoa and is the one here represented. 



The original describers were at first somewhat doubtful about founding a species upon a 

 single specimen, but they finally determined so to do, because the species which most- 

 resembles it, T. nigrogularis, comes from a different habitat. All the individuals noticed 

 were seen to agree in having the head entirely blue, as is that of the otherwise very different 

 species, T. novce-hollandice . 



Nevertheless, it is of course possible that connectiag-links may one day be discovered, 

 since, as above mentioned, Beccari got from one of the Ke Islands a specimen of T. nigro- 

 gularis in which the head was almost entirely blue. It was taken in the month of August. 



The upper parts are green. The head is entirely blue and ornamented with many 

 brighter-coloured shaft-streaks. The throat is blackish. There is a nuchal band of broad 

 yellowish green. The feathers of the interscapular region bear a hidden tint of bright red. 

 The upper breast is yellowish red, with yellow and blackish apices to the leathers, which thus 

 give rise to narrow transverse blackish bands. The abdomen is very dark green. The flanks 

 are red, marked by broad green bands formed by the green margins of the feathers. The 

 thighs and under tail-coverts are yellowish green, the apex of each feather bearing a broad 



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