136 
i/e vaii.lant’s pionus. 
plumage, and exhibiting a most entertaining spec- 
tacle to the observer. This ceremonial being finished, 
they revisit the trees on which they assembled at 
sunrise, where they sit for some time engaged in 
adjusting and pruning their feathers. This finished, 
they fly off in pairs, each pair retiring to its peculiar 
roost, where they rest till morning. 
The bill is large, the culmen biangulate, the to- 
miae sinuated, but not distinctly toothed ; its colour 
whitish. Tlie head, neck, and breast are of an olive 
green colour, deepest upon the forehead and crown ; 
the lores or space between the bill and eyes black. 
The mantle, scapulars, and wing-coverts are brown- 
ish-black, the feathers margined with green. The 
lower back, upper tail-coverts, abdomen, and under 
tail-coverts, emerald green. The ridge of the wings 
and thighs are bright reddish-orange. The quills 
and tail brownish-black, slightly tinged with green. 
Legs and toes grey. 
In addition to Wagler’s genera Psittacodis, Eclec- 
ius, and Pionus, which contain the other larger spe- 
cies of the short even- tailed Parrots, we are inclined 
to place in this subfamily several small species, which, 
in Kuhl’s Conspectus, form a portion of his section 
Psittacula, and are also included in Wagler’s more 
restricted genus of the same name. Both of these 
groups are, however, so constituted, as to embrace 
