JARBINE'S P ABBOT. 85 



indirectly from that cause; but we have been unable to ascertain its 

 end, of which no record has apparently been kept; at all events it has 

 escaped the intelligent custodian's memory; which is not to be wondered 

 at, seeing the multitude of different birds that pass through his hands 

 in the course of the year. 



As our colleague has given a full description of this bird in his 

 note, we shall not occupy space by going over the same ground, but 

 refer our readers to the plate and to Mr. Dutton's accurate word- 

 portrait of Jardine's Parrot. 



Should another specimen of the species pass into our possession at 

 any future time, we shall give an account in the Appendix to this 

 work, of any further peculiarities respecting it, that we may observe. 

 But that addition to our present labours is a good way off yet we 

 hope and believe, and in the meantime we cannot add much more, 

 except that no instance of even egg-production has been recorded of 

 this species up to the present time. 



The female cannot be distinguished by her outward appearance from 

 her mate; but as some of these birds have brown eyes, and others 

 have the irides of a bright orange-red colour, it is possible that the 

 latter may be the females; and peimaps the young of both sexes may 

 take after their mothers in this respect; in which case the eyes of the 

 young males would become dark as they reached maturity, and those 

 of the females retain the lighter shade; for it is an established fact 

 that in almost every case the young of both sexes resemble at first 

 the adult female, and do not assume the characteristic distinctions of 

 the sex to which they belong, until they have reached maturity, and 

 are about becoming parents in their turn. There is also very little 

 doubt that in the case of all birds in which the sex is not differentiated 

 by the plumage, it is so by the permanent colour of the eye, that is 

 to say, by the colour of the iris when the bird has reached maturity; 

 though in some species, such as the Eose-breasted Cockatoo, for 

 example, the distinction is much more marked than in others. 



It is somewhat strange that the Jardine Parrot is not more fre- 

 quently imported, for its distribution is pretty extended; the bird 

 having been reported from all parts of the west coast of Africa, and 

 also from Guinea, and the Gaboon, as well as from the Congo and 

 Angola, though nothing is known of its habits in the wild state. 



In length it measures about ten and a half inches, of which the 

 tail occupies nearly three; it has strong wings, long in proportion to 

 its size, and flies well. 



The French, as a rule, are not happy in their a/vine nomenclature ; 

 and the title Perroquet a tete d* or, which they have bestowed upon 



