Genus— PL ATYCERCUS. 
Platycercus Vigors, Zool. Journ., Vol. I., p. 527, 1825 
(Jan.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Type P. elegans. 
Also spelt — 
Platicercus Lesson, Compl. de Buff Ois., Vol. IX., p. 219, 1837. 
Medium Platycercine birds with short broad blunt tipped bills, long wings, 
long wedge-shaped tails of broad feathers, and thin legs short but com- 
paratively longer than in the preceding family. The distinct coloration 
separates the birds of this genus at a glance. 
The bill is broad with the long tip broad and scooplike : there is a distinct 
gap succeeding the tip whence the edge ascends slantingly but uncurved to the 
head : the under mandible is broad with the tip truncate, and a straight edge 
succeeds the prominent tip. The cere is small and naked, practically only 
embracing the nostrils which are small circular openings placed rather far 
apart. 
The wing is long with the third primary longest, the second and fourth a 
little less and sub equal, the first shorter than the fifth : these constitute the 
tip and the primaries are scallopped on their outer edges. 
The tail is long, a little longer than the wing, strongly wedge-shaped, the 
feathers broad but somewhat narrowed towards the tips but never acuminate : 
the two middle feathers are really the longest but do not much exceed the 
next pair. The legs and feet are small but are proportionately a little longer 
than in the preceding family and more slender. The furcula is wanting 
and consequently I have given this group family rank, though Salvadori 
recognised it as a subfamily only and included Melopsittacus, Pezoporus and 
Geopsittacus which I eliminate : I will discuss the abnormal Lathamus later. 
A. R. Wallace ( Proc . Zool . Soc. (Lond.), 1864, p. 278) observed: “The 
next family, the Platycereidce (the Broadtails and Ground Parrots), are some- 
what allied to the last group (Psittacidce) through the Palceornithince. They 
have different habits from most other Parrots, being often terrestrial and 
seed-eaters : their whole structure is weak, their flight slow and Cuckoo-like ; 
the keel of the sternum is lower and more rounded anteriorly than in the other 
families ; the pelvis is short, broad, and flat ; the skull is small, the bill short ; 
the lower mandible broad and swollen ; the legs rather long and slender ; and 
the plumage lax and abundant.” 
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