165 



9. HYPOCHARMOSYNA PYGM^A. 



(THE PIGMY LORY.) 

 [Plate LIII. Fig. 2.] 



Pygmy Parrakeet, Latham, Syn. i. pt. 1, p. 256 (1781). 



Psittacus pymmis, Gmelin, S. N. i. p. 330 (1788). 



Trichoglossus pygmceus, Pelzeln, Sitzb. Ak. Wiss. Wien, xx. p. 165(1856) ; Pinsch, Papag. 



ii. p. 870 (1868) ; Pelzeln, Ibis, 1873, p. 31, pi. i. 

 PEypocharmosyna pygmcea, Salvadori, Cat. of Birds in Brit. Mils. xx. p. 79 (1891). 



Underside of quills entirely dusky and with no yellow band ; thighs green ; no red round the base of the 

 bill. 



Habitat. Unknown. 



This species was originally described by Latham in 1781 under the name of " the Pygmy 

 Parrakeet." As to its locality, he remarks that it " inhabits some of the islands in the South 

 Seas. The specimen described was said to have come from Otaheite." 



This skin, however, was subsequently observed by Dr. Pinsch to be labelled " Botany 

 Bay." 



No other specimen has ever been obtained, and the unique type which, when described 

 by Latham, was in the Museum of Sir Ashton Lever, Kt. (known as the Museum Leverianum), 

 passed by purchase into the Imperial Museum at Vienna. Through the great kindness 

 of Dr. Ludwig V. Lorenz (with the consent of Dr. P. Steindachner) we have been able to 

 figure the undoubted type of H. pygmcea ; for Dr. Lorenz sent us this unique and valuable 

 specimen for that purpose. A figure, said to be of this species, was published by Pelzeln in 

 the ' Ibis ' for 1873, but, strange to say, this has not been found to agree with the skin we 

 recently received from Vienna. We have therefore caused the latter to be drawn and 

 coloured with greatest possible care. 



It is very like H. palmarum, but differs in not having any red round the base of the 

 bill, and also by its smaller size. The latter difference is not evident in our Plate, the figure 

 of PL. pygmcea having been represented therein as nearer the spectator than that of 

 PI. palmarum. 



It may be described as follows : — Above grass-green, inclined to emerald-green on the 

 head, even to bluish; the underpart of the body is yellowish green. The bases of many of 

 the feathers of the abdomen are yellow. The tail is grass-green, washed with emerald-green. 

 The sides of the face and ear-coverts, as well as the eyebrows, are streaked with bright 

 emerald-green. The wing-coverts are like the back. The quills are dusky, externally grass- 



