:p:late xxvi. 
APROSMICTUS (Ptistes) COCCINEOPTERUS. 
CRIMSON-WINGED LORY. Genus: Ptistes. 
BETWEEN this species and the last so little difference is perceptible that it remained an open question for 
some time whether it should be elevated into a distinct species or not, but a closer acquaintance has shown 
that the variety is a smaller one in all admeasurements excepting the bill, which is rather larger, and the 
adult males are more richly coloured in both tones of green and red. The shoulder marking takes a crimson hue, 
and is not so extensive as in Ptistes erythropterus. The female is so similar to the same sex of Ptistes 
erythropterus and the extra Australian species, Ptistes Venustce, that it is a matter of some difficulty to 
distinguish between them. 
Among this last species no red-shouldered male has yet been seen ; and if this most distinctive badge 
never occurs, the sexes are alike. 
This crimson-winged Lory approaches so closely to the Ptistes erythropterus of Port Denison that there is 
little perceptible difference except in the plumage of the lower part of the body, which is of a yellower green ; 
the tail more vividly coloured ; the amount of red scarcely so much. 
Habitats : Port Darwin, Port Essington, Gulf of Carpentaria, Cape York (Queensland). 
GENUS PLATYCERCUS. 
THIS is a genus of highly ornamental appearance, both in form and colouring, while the development of the 
long, ample fan-shaped tails which are displayed to the fullest advantage during flight, is in itself a 
distinctive feature. Widely distributed throughout Australia and Tasmania, the climatic effect has been to 
produce a large variety more or less distinct, amounting in all to fourteen species. The os furcatorium is entirely 
wanting in this family, the absence of Avhich seems to be a hindrance to sustained flight, and it follows that these 
birds seldom use their wings except as a means of transport to the nearest trees from the spot where is found an 
abundant supply of grass seed. 
PLATYCERCUS CYANOGENYS. 
BLVE-C REEKED PARRAKEET. Genus: Platycercus. 
ONE of the greatest difficulties with which ornithologists have to cope in Australia is that of being unable to 
obtain information concerning birds native to little-known parts of the Continent, where settlements are 
many hundred miles apart, and the country is only being gradually opened up by squatting syndicates, 
whose object is naturally not scientific so much as money-making. As a consequence, many birds that may prove 
as interesting as the Nestors of New Zealand can only be noticed in a bald, general term of existence. This species 
under notice being one of which there is still everything to learn. The Platycercus cyanogenys of Gould 
corresponds with the Platycercus amathusia' of Ramsay, just as Platycercus zonarius corresponds with 
Platycercus baueri. 
Closely allied to Platycercus jjalficeps, the yellow and purple hues of the one are exchanged for a green 
and blue plumage in the other, and the disposition of the tail is more fan-shaped in repose, and therefore 
handsomer in the Platycercus cyanogenys, while the white cheeks of the Palliceps are replaced by bright blue, 
and the bill is more closely set into the head. 
