THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
and quill lining blackish. Bill bluish-horn. Eyes hazel ; feet grey. Total length 
260 mm.; culmen 11; wing 114; tail 128; tarsus 15. Figured. Collected at 
Melton, Victoria. 
Adult female. Similar but not so rich in coloration. 
Adult male. Crown of head, hind-neck, entire back, scapulars, inner upper wing-coverts, 
innermost secondaries, sides of face, throat, breast, and sides of the body olive-green, 
shaded with yellow ; lesser marginal upper wing-coverts pale blue like some of the 
outer median and greater series ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and flight quills 
blackish with deep dark blue on the outer aspect much paler on the outer margins 
of the primaries ; middle tail-feathers peacock-blue the outer ones yellow at the 
tips and more or less brown on the inner-webs — the yellow increasing in extent towards 
the outermost which is almost uniform yellow ; a deep dark blue band across the 
forehead fringed on the posterior portion with pale blue and extended in a very 
narrow line over the eye ; abdomen and short under tail-coverts dull yellow with 
a greenish tinge — the long series of the latter paler yellow, like the lower aspect 
of the outer tail-feathers, the central feathers brown ; middle of abdomen and thighs 
pale orange-red ; axillaries dark brown ; under wing-coverts blackish like the quills 
below, the former tinged with deep dark blue. Figured. Collected at Broome Hill, 
South-west Australia, on the 13th of October, 1905. And is the type of P. e. carter i. 
Adult female. Similar but not so rich in coloration. 
Nest. A hole in a tree. 
Eggs. Clutch, four to five. White. 20-21 mm. by 17-18. 
Breeding-season. August to October. 
Although this bird was first described by Gould it had been brought to England 
long before but had been confused with the preceding species. Gould described 
it as from Tasmania but he later discovered his error. His notes read : 
“Although closely resembling in size and form the Blue-banded Grass-Parrakeet, 
this species differs from it in several minor particulars. The green colouring of 
its plumage is of a more golden hue, and the blue frontal band extends behind 
the eye, while in the former it reaches no farther than the front ; the difference 
in the colouring of the wing of the two species is also strongly marked, being 
wholly blue in one, while in the other the shoulders and the part near the 
scapularies are green. As far as I could learn, the present species is never 
seen in Tasmania, while the Blue-banded is a constant summer visitant to 
that island ; neither is it common in New South Wales, its visits to that 
country being apparently accidental. Its proper home is Western Australia, 
over which country it is generally dispersed. It appears to prefer the barren 
and sandy belts bordering the coast, but occasionally resorts to the more 
distant interior. Flocks were constantly rising before me while traversing 
the salt marshes, which stretch along the coast from Holdfast Bay to the 
Port of Adelaide ; they were feeding upon the seeds of grasses and various 
other plants, which were there abundant ; in the middle of the day, or when 
disturbed, they retreated to the thick Banfcsias that grow on the sandy 
ridges in the immediate neighbourhood, and in such numbers, that I have 
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