CRIMSON-BELLIED PARROT. 
Three years ago acquiring the rare second part of the Birds of Australia 
and the Adjacent Islands , and overlooking the full explanation quoted above, 
I worked out the synonymy anew and named the red-vented bird. I gave an 
account as noted above in the South Australian Ornithologist , and here add the 
gist of it : “ On the seventh plate (of the Birds of Australia and the Adjacent 
Islands) this species is figured and there described. The bird has no red on 
the wing-coverts and has the under tail-coverts yellow. In the letterpress 
Gould states that he had only seen three specimens, two being collected by 
Major Mitchell on the Darling River. These he diagnosed as males, and his 
own bird, on account of its duller coloration, he considered a female. He states 
also that Major Mitchell had presented his specimens to the Linnean 
Society of London and the British Museum. He also mentions that Major 
Mitchell has given birds to the Australian Museum at Sydney, New South 
Wales. These, of course, Gould had not seen, and are only referred to as 
confirmatory evidence. 
In Mitchell’s Three Expeditions into the Interior of Australia , Yol. I., p. 
236, we find the following account : “ June 20th, 1835. On the low hills 
which we crossed a new species of parrot was shot, having scarlet feathers 
on the breast, the head and wings being tinged with a beautiful blue, the 
back, etc., being of a dark brownish green.” A footnote reads : “ This bird 
has since been named by Mr. Gould Platycercus hcematogaster .” At this date 
Mitchell was at a place about 31° 18' S. by 144° 15' E. 
When Stone drew up his “ List of Australian Birds,” described by John 
Gould, etc. ( Austral Av. Rec., Vol. I., pp. 129-180, 1913), on p. 149, he wrote : 
“ Platycercus hcematogaster , Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1837, p. 89, 1838. 
22907 (254). New South Wales. — Type. Gould’s original description applies as 
well to the red-vented form as to the yellow, and by figuring the former he 
fixed the name definitely upon it, notwithstanding his later remarks in the 
handbook. All the specimens ear the red- vented bird.” . . . The specimens 
Gould records as being presented to the Linnean Society of London and the 
British Museum are the basis of the original plate, and I have searched for 
these. The former has apparently fallen into decay, as when the Linnean 
Society’s birds passed into the British Museum, many not regarded as types 
were rejected. The other bird, however, is still preserved in the British 
Museum, and was catalogued by Salvadori as a specimen of P. xanthorrhoa. 
This must now T be regarded as type of Platycercus hcematogaster Gould, and it 
agrees very well with Gould’s figure. It should be noted that the Proc. Zool. 
Soc. (Lond.), 1837, p. 89, was not published until February 13th, 1838, while 
the second part of The Birds of Australia and the Adjacent Islands bears the 
date February, 1838.” 
415 
