108 
Hed-Hented 
§>ARROT. 
Psittacus menstruus, Russ. 
Synonyms: Pionus menstruus, Gr.; Pionias menstruus, Wglr., Pnsch., 
etc., etc. German : Der blaukopfige P ortoriko-papagei. 
T HIS is a very handsome bird, with a very unbecoming name, but 
naturalists are not over particular when an appellation suits them; 
the general colour is dark grass green, the upper wing coverts are 
greenish olive, with a bronzed reflection in certain lights, and the 
lower green; the head and neck are violet blue, the ears are black, the 
tail dark green, the lower tail coverts purple, and the vent blood-red. 
Male and female are exactly alike in general appearance; it is another 
Brazilian species, but extends into La Plata. 
Wagler separated this bird from the genus Psittacus, and formed 
it, with some other species, into a separate genus which he distinguished 
by the term Pionus, but it seems to us a pity to multiply genera 
on such slight, and, to our mind, inadequate grounds. The characters 
of the former genus, Psittacus, according to Wagler, are — Bill strong, 
proportionate, the upper mandiblo with the culmen slightly narrowed, 
the tip, with its under surface, rough with elevated ridges, strongly 
toothed or emarginate, under mandible slightly compressed, with the 
cutting edges sinuate. 
In the latter genus, Pionus, the characters given are — The bill large, 
the culmen biangulate, the tomiae sinuate, but not distinctly toothed. 
Differences, surely, scarce sufficient to warrant the creation of two 
genera, where the general appearance, and, especially the habits, no 
less than the habitat of both are, in almost every instance, identical, 
or at best so slightly divergent as to point to generic unity, and con- 
centration being the order of the day in other circles, we have no 
hesitation in including the subject of the present notice with the rest 
of the short-tailed Parrots, of which the Amazons and the Grey are 
the most familiar examples. 
