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OLDEN-CROWNED <f>ONURE, OR 
Psiitacus aureus, Auctorum. 
Synonyms: Conurus aureus, Gr., Bp., etc.; Conurus canicularis, Brmst.; 
Conurus brasiliensis, Fnsch.; Psittacus regulus, Shw.; 
Psittaca brasiliensis, Bess.; Sittace aurea, Wot.; Aratinga aurea, Spx. ; 
Aratinga pertinax, Be., etc., etc. German: Per Halbmond-Sittich. 
iHIS charming bird is a native of Southern America, and is smaller 
-L than the Carolina, which it otherwise resembles, measuring about 
ten or eleven inches in extreme length. 
Dressed in a mantle of vivid green, its forehead is ornamented by 
a crescentic patch of a deep orange colour, like the crescent on Diana's 
virgin brow, behind which the feathers assume a greenish blue shade 
on the top and back of the head, the cheeks and the neck are greenish 
gold, and the breast and abdomen a dull greenish yellow. 
The female can scarcely be distinguished from her mate; but the 
smaller size and fainter colour of the crescentic or half-moon patch 
that gives the bird one of its English names, as well as its German 
designation, is thought to indicate the female; but we must admit that 
the difference is very slightly marked, and the sexes can only be surely 
recognised by the actions and demeanour of the birds. 
We have no doubt that the Parrakeet described by Bechstein under 
the name of Psittacus canicularis belonged to the species under con- 
sideration, although the old German writer called the deep orange 
yellow of the half-moon markings red, and the greenish blue shade 
of the top of the head sky-blue, for in other respects the descriptions 
of Russ and Bechstein agree. 
“It is handsome, but does not speak", says the latter author, “and 
