178 
PAL2E0RNIS CALTHROP.E. 
The colours of this Parrakeet appear to be much affected by the sun’s rays ; the head and back lose their brightness, 
and become pervaded with a greyish hue, altering much the delicate character of the plumage. Specimens likewise 
fade after preservation. 
Female. Bill, upper mandible black, lower blackish, tinged with reddish. The green on the lores and orbital region 
less in extent, and the centre of the back (as far as I have observed) more brilliant than in the male. As the 
coloration of the female’s bill has been the subject of some controversy, I may remark that Mr. Holdsworth first 
pointed out that it was black. Adults of both sexes have sometimes, when in rich plumage, a slight cobalt-hue 
wash on the forehead and cheeks. 
Young. Iris whitish ; bill (male) pale orange, (female) upper mandible dusky black, lower reddish ; feet and legs 
plumbeous. 
Birds of the year are dull green above and yellowish green beneath ; the head darker than t he back and sometimes with 
a bluish tinge; there is an indication of the green collar on the hind neck ; the back and rump cobalt-blue (brighter 
than the adult) ; tail green, washed with blue, tipped and edged internally with yellow towards the extremities, 
lower feathers of the upper tail-coverts green ; some individuals have the tail bluer than others. 
Ohs. This species comes nearer the South-Indian Parrakeet {Pal. columhoides ) than any other, but has not even much 
in common with that. There is, however, a slight general resemblance in the two birds, which is in accordance 
with the relationship displayed between the avifaunas of the regions in question. Pal. columhoides has the wing 
5 - 7 to 6-0, and is therefore a larger bird, with a correspondingly longer tail. The black ring in this species 
completely encircles the neck, the under surface is slaty instead of green, the rump is green instead of blue, and 
the primaries and their coverts obscure blue. 
Distribution . — The Ceylon Parrakeet was discovered by Layard, who writes thus concerning it in the 
'Annals and Magazine of Natural History’ for 1854 : — “My first acquaintance with this lovely bird was at 
Kandy, where I killed a male and female at one shot from a flock flying over my head ; I took them for the 
common P. torquatus until I picked them up, and then great was my delight to find such an elegant new 
species. It proves to be the common Parrakeet of the hilly zone, and I have traced it to all parts of it.” As 
Layard remarks, this species is distributed throughout the hills of the Kandyan Province ; but it is singularly 
local as regards some parts, small districts here and there appearing to be surrendered almost entirely to the 
last species. Of such I may mention portions of the Pusselawa, Hewahette, and Kalebokka valleys, as well as 
parts of Dumbara, where, in the month of November, I have met with numbers of P. cyanocephalus, to the 
almost entire exclusion of the present Parrakeet. It is numerous about Kandy and Peradeniya, and also 
Deltota, in Upper Hewahette, Poondoloya, most parts of Uva, Madulsima, and Ilaputale, while it is still 
more abundant in Maskeliya, Dickoya, and throughout the Peak forests at intermediate altitudes. In the 
south it is numerous in the Morowak Korale, and very abundant indeed in the higher parts of the Kukkul 
Korale, notably in the Singha-Rajah forest, concerning which region I wrote, in my paper " On the Distri- 
bution of Birds in the Southern Hill-region of Ceylon” ('Ibis,’ 1874), that I considered it more abundant 
there than in any other part of the island, a conclusion to which I still adhere. 
It was thought for many years to be an inhabitant only of the hills, an idea which obtained on account 
of the very imperfect exploration of the forests round the base of the central zone, and the repeated working 
of naturalists over certain beaten tracks. In 1870 I first met with it in the low country, down in the vallevs 
adjacent to the Hinedun Kanda or Haycock Hill, and was somewhat surprised at finding it there, while I had 
not seen nor heard it in the Oodogamma or Opate forests, a district lying higher than the one in question. My 
next meeting with it was in the park-like woods lying between “ Westminster Abbey” and Kollunpitiya, on 
the new Batticaloa road, and which are studded with those remarkable rocky hills so characteristic of the Eastern 
Province. I subsequently found it about Nalanda, and all round the base of the Matale Hills, from Dambulla 
to Kurunegala : beneath the Ambokka range it is abundant. The greatest extent of low country, however, 
over which it is spread lies in the Western Province, between Ruanwella and Pelmadulla. I found it close 
to Ukawatta, about 26 miles from Colombo, where it was frequenting the tall timber-forests ; it was also very 
common in the Kuruwite forests, and thence up to Gillymally, as well as in other parts of the valley of 
