236 



ORNITHOLOGY, 



defined. The prepared specimen is exactly of the size given in Lear's 

 plate, to which we have above referred. Total length (of prepared 

 specimen), sixteen and a half inches ; wing, ten inches, tail, nine and 

 a half inches. 



2. Aprosmictus Anna [Bourjot St. Hilaire). 



Conurus Atma, Bourj. St. HiL. Hist. Nat. des Perroquets (not paged). 



Jard. and Selby, 111. Orn. II, Plate LXXIV ; St. Hil. Perroquets, 

 Plate XXXVIII. 



This species, of which a specimen is in the collection of the Expe- 

 dition, and of which the original specimen described by Bourjot St. 

 Hilaire, is in the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences of 

 Philadelphia, much resembles the preceding. In form and colors they 

 are alike, so far as relates to general appearance. 



The principal distinctive characters of the present bird are the 

 smaller size of all its parts, particularly of the bill and of the tail ; and 

 the nuchal collar of blue, wide and conspicuous in the preceding, is in 

 this restricted to a narrow line, scarcely observable without particular 

 examination. In this bird, the feathers of the rump are distinctly 

 edged and tipped with purple, of the same shade as the inferior parts 

 of the body, a character not found in the preceding species. 



The dimensions of a prepared specimen now before us, and which 

 is that described and figured by St. Hilaire, are as follows : total 

 length, fifteen and a half inches ; wing, eight and a half inches ; tail, 

 eight inches. The difference between the two birds that we regard as 

 distinct species, may be readily seen on comparison of the plates in 

 Lear's Parrots, with St. Hilaire's figure above referred to, or with the 

 figure in Jardine and Selby's Illustrations of Ornithology, It is pos- 

 sible, however, that they are opposite sexes of the same species, but 

 with our present information, we must regard them as presenting 

 another of the intricate problems in the Ornithology of the Islands of 

 the Pacific, only to be determined by future and more extended in- 

 vestigation. 



In the collection of the Exploring Expedition, the specimen of this 

 bird is labelled as having been obtained at the Feejee Islands; those 



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