THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Psephotellus chrysopterygius dorothece Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. II., p. 128, Jan. 28, 
1915 : McArthur River, Northern Territory. 
Psephotellus chrysopterygius chrysopterygius Mathews, ib. 
Distribution. Northern Territory ; Mid -Queensland (Gulf of Carpentaria), 
Adult male. Rack, scapulars and innermost secondaries dark earth-brown ; upper wing- 
coverts yellow ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, primary- and secondary-quills 
blackish brown, paler towards the tips of the primaries, which are edged with green 
on the outer-webs ; rump, short upper tail-coverts, hinder face, sides of neck, throat, 
breast, abdomen, sides of body, and under wing-coverts turquoise-blue ; long upper 
tail-coverts green edged with black at the tips ; middle tail-feathers bronze-green 
becoming blackish at the tips, the outer feathers bluish-green with a black band on 
the basal portion, fringed with dark brown on the inner-webs, and the longer ones 
tipped with white ; crown of head, lores, forehead and fore part of cheeks black ; 
under tail-coverts salmon-pink margined with white ; greater series of the under 
wing-coverts and quill-lining dark brown ; under-surface of tail dark brown on the 
central feathers, iridescent bluish-green on the outer feathers with white tips to the 
longer ones. Bill greyish-white, eyes dark brown, feet light brown. Total length 
305 mm.; culmen 13, wing 123, tail 170, tarsus 14. Figured. Collected at 
Borroloola on the McArthur River, Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Territory, on 
the 5th of December, 1913, and is the type P. c. dorothece. 
Adult female. General colour above and below, for the most part, yellowish olive-green 
including the head, back, wings, fore-neck and breast ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, 
primary- and secondary-quills edged with green on the outer-webs, the remaining 
portion of the feathers dark brown with a large patch of white on the inner-webs of 
some of the primary- and secondary-quills ; rump and upper tail-coverts emerald- 
green ; middle tail-feathers dark bronze-green, blackish towards the tips on the central 
pair ; the outer ones paler green and broadly tipped with white ; fore part of head, 
lores, fore part of face and throat paler than the back and inclining to grey ; hinder 
part of face emerald -green, fore-neck and breast rather paler than the back and more 
or less tinged with blue : abdomen and flanks turquoise-blue with a tinge of pink 
on the middle of the former ; under tail-coverts pale salmon-pink with somewhat 
pale edges to the feathers ; under wing-coverts similar to the back, the greater 
• series and quill-lining pale brown with glossy reflections and an oblique white patch 
on the latter ; lower aspect of tail dark brown on the middle portion and pale green 
on the outer feathers — the longer ones white on the apical portion. Figured. 
Collected at Borroloola, on the McArthur River, Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern 
Territory, on the 5th of December, 1913, and is the mate of the male above 
described. 
Nest. In a Termites’ nest (White Ants). These white ants’ nests are very large in some 
parts of the Northern Territory. 
Eggs. Probably very similar to those of P. pulcherrimus. 
Breeding-season. December ? 
Gould wrote as follows under the name Psephotus chrysopterygius : “ One of 
the greatest pleasures enjoyed by the late celebrated botanist, Robert Brown, 
during the last thirty years of his life, was now and then to show me the 
drawing of a Parrakeet made by one of the brothers Bauer, from a specimen 
procured somewhere on the north coast of Australia, but of which no specimen 
was preserved at the time, and none had been sent to England, until several 
420 
