108 



R.ED-||ENTED fgARROT. 



Psittacus menstruus, Kuss. 



Synonyms: Planus menstruus, GrR.; Pionias menstruus, "Wglr., Fnsch., 



etc., etc. German : Der blauJcopfige Portoriko-papagei. 



THIS is a very handsome bird, with a very unbecoming name, but 

 naturalists are not over particular when an appellation suits them; 

 the general colour is dark grass green, the upper wing coverts are 

 greenish olive, with a bronzed reflection in certain lights, and the 

 lower green; the head and neck are violet blue, the ears are black, the 

 tail dark green, the lower tail coverts purple, and the vent blood-red. 



Male and female are exactly alike in general appearance; it is another 

 Brazilian species, but extends into La Plata. 



Wagler separated this bird from the genus Psittacus, and formed 

 it, with some other species, into a separate genus which he distinguished 

 by the term Pionus, but it seems to us a pity to multiply genera 

 on such slight, and, to our mind, inadequate grounds. The characters 

 of the former genus, Psittacus, according to Wagler, are — Bill strong, 

 proportionate, the upper mandible with the culmen slightly narrowed, 

 the tip, with its under surface, rough with elevated ridges, strongly 

 toothed or emarginate, under mandible slightly compressed, with the 

 cutting edges sinuate. 



In the latter genus, Pionus, the characters given are — The bill large, 

 the culmen biangulate, the torniee sinuate, but not distinctly toothed. 

 Differences, surely, scarce sufficient to warrant the creation of two 

 genera, where the general appearance, and, especially the habits, no 

 less than the habitat of both are, in almost every instance, identical, 

 or at best so slightly divergent as to point to generic unity, and con- 

 centration being the order of the day in other circles, we have no 

 hesitation in including the subject of the present notice with the rest 

 of the short-tailed Parrots, of which the Amazons and the Grey are 

 the most familiar examples. 



