PXjATB XXXI. 
PLATYCERCUS ZONARIUS. 
BAUER'S PABBAKEET or BOBT LINCOLN LOBY. Genus: Platycercus. 
THIS handsome Parrakeet, also known as Platycercus baueri, is nearly allied to the Platycercus semi-tor 'quatus, 
though it differs from it very materially in several particulars. In size it is a good deal smaller, and its 
plumage shows more brilliant contrasts. 
When seen from behind, the birds might easily be supposed to be identical, but the delusion ceases 
immediately they turn ; for the eye is at once caught by a band of splendid yellow, which separates the breast 
from the vent, which is the distinguishing feature of the semi-tor quatus. 
So far, little is known of the habits and food of Bauer's Parrakeet ; and in the absence of trustworthy 
information, we suppose that it resembles the Platycercus semi-tor quatus in these respects as in others. 
It was first observed at Port Lincoln, and is locally known there as the Port Lincoln Lory ; it bears 
confinement with great equanimity, and is a common pet. The plumage is found to vary at different ages and 
in different seasons. 
The females are smaller and less brilliantly coloured than the males, as is the almost invariable 
rule among the Psittacida? ; the head and neck, dead black ; cheeks, deep blue ; back of neck shows a 
crescent-shaped marking of bright yellow ; throat, chest, shoulders, and back, deep green, passing into a verditer 
green on the wing-coverts ; primaries, black at tips and deep blue at base ; tail feathers, deep green, tipped with 
lazuline-blue above, under surfaces bluish-white ; abdomen, deep gamboge yellow ; vent and upper tail coverts, 
grass-green ; bill, horn-colour ; feet, dark brown ; irides, black. 
Habitats : Interior, Victoria, and South Australia. 
PLATYCERCUS SEMI-TORQUATUS. 
YEL LOW- COLL A BED PABBAKEET. Genus: Platycercus. 
COMMONLY known as the " Twenty-eight " Parrakeet, from the peculiar notes it utters when in motion, the 
Platycercus semi-tor quatus is a bird of restricted habitat, being found only in Western Australia. Within 
that region it is plentiful enough, and is equally well content searching for food on the trees bearing hard 
stoned fruit and seeds, or living upon the grass seeds of the ground. It follows, then, that the bird is semi- 
terrestrial in its habits, though, correctly speaking, it is a ground Parrot, for the os furcatorium, so necessary to 
sustained flight, is entirely lacking, and to balance this want it has the power of running very swiftly. During 
the short journeys on the wing, its flight is remarkably rapid. These varied qualities prove that this is a very 
important member of the Platycerci, combining as it does such opposite powers of wing and feet. 
The breeding season begins in the end of September or early in October, when the pairs seek out a 
hollow in a gum tree or a mahogany tree (eucalyptus marginata), and lay seven to nine eggs on the soft black 
dust collected on the bottom. They are pure white in colour, and many of them have a pinkish hue before being 
blown. 
This is the largest species of ground Parrakeet yet found in Australia, and is a very handsome bird 
besides. Its nearest congener is Platycercus baueri, which has many points of resemblance in the matter of 
plumage. 
