PLATE! XXXIV. 
PL AT YCE RCUS AURICEPS. 
GOLDEN-CROWNED PAR RAKEET OF NEW ZEALAND Genus: Platycercus. 
fV HIS is a small edition of Platycercus Nonce Zealandia, having similar characteristics, except that the crown 
of the head is, as its name indicates, yellow instead of crimson, and this is its distinguishing- mark. Though 
not restricted to any locality, it is found more plentifully in the northern part of the North Island, and 
decreases as we approach Cook Straits. In the South Island, however, both species are equally plentiful. The 
Auriceps is less gregarious than its near congener, and is usually seen in pairs. It is even more gentle and 
tractable, but possesses little imitative faculty ; it is capable of strong attachments, and will become so tame and 
so fond of its owner that it will accompany him out of doors. It is very timid, however, and easily frightened, 
when it will fly some distance on its powerful wings, but invariably returns when the alarm is over. 
It is exceedingly fond of bathing, and drinks very freely ; and this love of liquids is perhaps one reason 
why it has so strong a preference for juicy berries. Of strictly arboreal habits, its favourite food consists of the 
berries of the tutu bushes (coriaria ruscifolia ) ; and it becomes so absorbed in feeding upon them that the 
natives snare it easily, while so engaged, by means of a flax noose at the end of a long slender stick. 80 long as 
these juicy berries last, the Auriceps eats nothing else, and the whole of the bird's flesh is stained by the dark 
purple dye. Later, when the wild dock is seeding, it is happy in feeding upon the seeds of this poisonous weed. 
At other seasons, it finds ample food in the berries of coprosma lucida (native currant), fuchsia excorticata, 
and other forest shrubs. Should this natural food fail, the Auriceps will descend in myriads upon the cultivated 
grounds, and devour soft fruit, grains, pulse, and tender shoots, passing over the land like a devastating army. 
The process of incubation is similar to the Red-Pronted, and from five to eight eggs, resembling the 
others, but smaller, are laid. 
The long legs of this bird enable it to hop very freely ; and it scratches with its feet in the sand and 
dust like the Gallinacea?, which seems to be a peculiarity of the New Zealand Parrots. 
There is so little difference between the male and female that they can only be distinguished by com- 
parison, when the latter will be found to be a trifle smaller, and to have a rather paler frontlet. Total length of 
male, ten inches. 
The upper surfaces, a deep rich green ; the under surfaces are lighter, with a dash of yellow in the 
green ; primaries and secondaries, blue ; inner web of the tertiaries, brown ; forehead, vivid red ; crown of head, 
bright yellow ; under tail feathers, grey ; feet, dark grey ; irides, deep red ; upper mandible, blue, with a black 
tip ; under mandible, horn colour. 
Habitats : North and South Islands, New Zealand. 
