THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
The only additional item of importance is that the type of Platycercus 
hcematogaster Gould, as determined above, served as type for P. xanthorrhoa 
Bonaparte, and this fact Bonaparte endeavoured to rectify by his proposition 
of hcematorrhous , which name Gould accepted in 1865, but also retained wrongly 
his xanthorrhous. It is satisfactory that these are only subspecifically separable 
so that the rectification of the errors will not cause much confusion. 
When Salvadori catalogued the Birds in the British Museum he accepted 
two species, P. hcematorrhous and P. xanthorrhous. 
In connection with the former he noted : “ The last two specimens have 
little tinge of verditer-green on the bend of the wing, some of the median wing- 
coverts red, and the under tail-coverts in one specimen have more red on them 
than in the other. I think they belong to P. hcematorrhous rather than to 
P. xanthorrhous , although they are intermediate between the two.” Of the 
latter he wrote : “In this species there is much individual variation, both in 
size and coloration ; some specimens have the yellow under tail-coverts more 
or less tinged with red, and the same tinge occasionally covers some of the median 
wing-coverts. The specimens from Cooper’s Creek, in the interior of South 
Australia, may be separated as a distinct race, var. 'pallescens . As Mr. Gould 
has already pointed out, they have the upper surface much paler ; also the 
breast is much paler, and the olive patch on the median wing-coverts is 
yellower.” 
Ramsay, however, in 1888, had used the names Platycercus hcematogaster 
and var. xanthorrhous, observing : “ P. hcematogaster : this species, originally 
described bv Gould, has been since divided under the names of P. hcematorrhous 
and P. xanthorrhous according to their state of plumage in the one individual 
having been obtained, it will be better to adhere to the original name of P. 
hcematogaster which embraces both varieties. Notwithstanding which, see 
Gould, Handb. Bds. Austr., II., pp. 62-64.” 
North in 1890 and Ramsay in 1891 maintained this view, but the authority 
of a British Museum Catalogue caused the admission of the two species, so that 
we find in 1 91 1 North recognising two species but stating : 4 4 Taking the extremes, 
as given in the above and the preceding description, one can readily recognise 
two distinct species, but judging from the series of specimens in the Australian 
Museum Collection one will as frequently find examples combining the characters 
of the two species as they will to either of the distinct forms P. hcematorrhous or 
P. xanthorrhous. Thus, while in the Red-vented Parrakeet specimens are to be 
found with crimson-red under tail-coverts, and the wing-streak more yellowish- 
olive than chestnut-red, so in the Yellow- vented Parrakeet will specimens be 
found with the under tail-coverts more or less centred or tipped with crimson- 
red, or the median upper wing-coverts tipped with chestnut-red.” 
416 
