PALiEORNIS CYAKOCEPHALUS. 
175 
Female Less than the male ; wing 4-9 to 5-1 inches. Upper mandible yellow ; lower dusky or blackish. The cap 
is dull plum-blue, wanting the black collar and mandibular stripe, and bounded by a yellow ring clearly defined 
on tke P sides of the neck; back brownish green ; wings wanting the red shoulder-spot; chest washed with 
yellowish. 
Young. The nestling is clothed with green feathers ; the bill is at first black, changing m the male, at about a fort 
night old, into yellow. 
The bird of the year has the bill greenish yellow, dusky along the culmen ; iris white, tinged with green ; legs and ten 
Plunwre'green throughout, brightest on the rump and lower bark, paling slightly on the forehead, and with the hue 
om£7m neek ratier light, contrasting somewhat with the dark green of the nap, 1 the central tad-feather, 
npp short find welshed with bhiG.th© tips boin^ whitish* , , vui 
In the next stage the forehead becomes paler and the bead bluish, with a dusky edge bordermg the lower mandib : 
the central rectrices are blue, as in the adult, hut with less of the white colour at the extiemitie . . 
Lutinos of this Parrakeot are occasionally met with. A beautiful example, m perfect uteous plumage, was give 
His Eoyal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh by the Mudliyar Jayetilke of Kurunegala. 
Obs. Ceylonese examples of this Parrakeet are, as a rule, smaller than Indian, among which noi them birds s ® e “ 
be the largest. The wings of five males from India are as follows-Madras, 5-3 inches ; Bengal ,5 4 ; Benga 
5-5 ; Nepal, 5-7 ; Nepal, 5-3 : those of two females-Bengal, 5-2 ; “ India,” 5-4. The coloration of the rose and 
blue cap corresponds with that in the insular bird. 
The Burmese bird, the Pal. row of Boddaert, founded on plate 888, PI. Enl., which was long confounded with this species 
has the head less covered with the azure hue, the axillaries aud wing-liuing blue, and the female has the reel 
win "-spot as well as the male. Mr. Blyth, who published a remark on the subject in the ‘Ibis 1870, appears 
to have brought the fact of these differences to the notice of Mr. Gould. Both species are beautitully figured m 
Mr Gould’s great work on the ‘Birds of Asia;’ but unfortunately in the letterpress the specific names have, I 
Mr. would s b rear . . , . ,, Tudian i/ lr( j i s called rosa and the Burmese cyanocephalas. 
sannsss * i * TT ; -A »• — * — - 
‘ Stray Leathers,’ this name being in reality a synonym of Pal.cyanocephalus. 
DiatnMio ,.- This beautiful Psrrakeet is abundant in many parte of the low country mid tolerably 
plentiful in the cofiecdmtricts up to an elevation of about 4000 feet. It IS not, as a rule, found very neat 
the sea-coast. In the Galle district it is first met with about 15 miles inland, and is common from tore up 
to the Morowak Korale, wherein the country and vegetation suit its habits. In the interior of the W estern 
Province, from Aviswella to Ratnapura and through the Saffragam valley to the district lying to the south 
of Haputale, as also in the Pasdun and Raygam Korales, it is a common bird. I have seen it about 10 miles 
inland from Kalatura. Mr. Parker writes me that it is not found nearer Puttalam than Uswewa, anc 
northward of this it keeps to about the same distance from the sea; further inland about Kurunegala and in 
most parts of the Seven Korales, as well as along the base of the hills to Dambulla, it is tolerably plentifu . 
Beyond Anaradjapura it becomes scarcer, being only found in certain suitable localities. In the Ja na 
peninsula I have not seen nor heard of it. It appears not to be found near Trmcomalie, hut to the south ot 
the Yirgel I once met with it, and that, too, at no great distance from the sea. It is not uncommon in the 
Eastern Province and about Nil gal la. In the Magam Pattu it frequents the cheenas of the natives. - 
rc "ards the Central Province, it is common in the Knuckles, Pusselawa, Deltota, Maturata, and othei districts 
round Kandy. In the vicinity of Badulla and in Madulsima it is likewise tolerably plentiful. 
On the continent Jerdon says that “ it is found more or less throughout India, extending into the 
Himalayas.” It is common on the Malabar coast and in the jungles of the Carnatic and in the Eastern Ghats. 
Mr Bourdillon does not seem to have met with it in the Travaneore hill-region, but Mr. Fairbank says that 
it is common on the Palani hillsides up to 4000 feet; the same writer remarks that it is common along the 
hills in Khandala, and visits the Deccan at some seasons in flocks. Mr. Ball says that it is found m most 
parts of Chota Nagpur, hut at the same time it is somewhat local; it is likewise common about the bambMi 
