THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Adult male. General colour of the upper-surface including the back, wings and tail, green the 
feathers on the lower hind-neck and mantle bright scarlet on the subapical portion : 
primary- and secondary-quills green on the outer webs and dark brown or blackish 
on the inner webs, with a large ovate yellow spot on the middle portion of the feathers ; 
outer web of first primary blackish like the inner web ; scapulars green with some of 
the small feathers almost entirely red ; middle tail-feathers bluish-green, the outer 
feathers green broadly margined with yellow on the inner webs, occupying the 
whole of the inner web at the base ; a nuchal collar of apple-green ; head, sides 
of face and throat dusky-brown with glossy blue shaft streaks to the feathers ; 
breast, under wing-coverts, axillaries and sides of the body bright red, the feathers 
on the sides of the breast edged with yellow at the tips, those on the sides of the 
body margined with green at the tips ; outer margin of wing below more or less 
green ; lower flanks and outer portion of thighs green, the inner portion of the 
latter red like the base of the under tail-coverts, the sub-basal portion of the latter 
yellowish with green tips ; abdomen purplish-brown tinged with blue ; greater 
series of under wing-coverts and quills below pale brown with a broad band of yellow 
across the latter ; lower aspect of tail pale brown with a green tinge, the outer 
feathers yellow on the basal portion. Bill coral red ; eyes scarlet ; feet ashy -grey. 
Total length 315 mm.; culmen 18, wing 155, tail 154, tarsus 16. Figured. 
Collected on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, on the 5th of December, 1911. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 
Nest. A hollow in a tree. 
Eggs. Clutch, two ; white. 28-30mm. by 22-24. 
Breeding-season. October to January, but varies in different parts. 
This was the first Parrot definitely described from Australia as it appears 
in the New Illustr. Zool. by Peter Brown 1776. A good figure is given on 
Plate VII., which is inscribed “ Published . . . Nov. 3rd, 1774 ” : a good 
description follows with the locality “ New South Wales, in New Holland ; 
very numerous in Botany Bay. This bird was first brought over by Joseph 
Banks, Esq.” 
In the Gen. Synops. Birds, Vol. I., 1781 (Preface dated Jan. 1), Latham 
included on p. 212 the Red-breasted Parrot, adding as “ Var. A — Orange- 
breasted Parrot— Perruche des Moluques, Buff. ois. VI., p. 150. PI. enl. 743,” 
and on p. 213, “ Var. B. Blue Bellied Parrot ” (of Brown cited above). 
Gmelin, in his Systema Natural, latinised Latham’s work and his Latin 
names become authoritative. In this case he named the var. A, Psittacus 
moluccanus and the var. B, Psittacus novcehollandia. 
In the Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum, Vol. XX., p. 57, 
1891, Salvadori gave as his first quotation : “ White-collared Parrot, Penn. 
Gen. of B., p. 59, pi. 2 (1773).” 
In 1773 an octavo edition of the Genera of Birds by Pennant was printed 
at Edinburgh, but that contained no plates, and the White-collared Parrot 
is not mentioned therein. 
In 1781 a quarto edition was issued in London with a large number of 
plates added and explanations given. Therein does appear on PI. II., opposite 
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