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Splendid ‘Sarrakeet. 
Psittacus splendidus, Rtrss. 
Synonyms: EupJiema splendida, Gld., Ge.; E‘up>hema chrysostoma, Wgl. 
German: Per Olanzsitiich. 
T he vast, sparsely timbered plains of Western Australia, clad during 
part of the year with abundant verdure, chiefly consisting of a 
strong coarse grass, known to the settlers by the name of Kangaroo- 
grass, from the partiality with which it is regarded by the herb- 
ivorous Marsupials in general, and the Kangaroos and Wallabies in 
particular, afford a secure asylum for a number of beautiful Parrakeets, 
many of which are extremely local in their distribution, and two or 
three of which are, perhaps, even better entitled to the specific desig- 
nation splendidus than the subject of the present notice, upon whom 
it has been bestowed by several authors. 
“Every eye”, says the proverb, makes its own beauty that is to 
say, every eye has its own standard of perfection, by which it measures, 
often unconsciously, the objects that are being continually passed in 
review before it, and not unfrequently the popular judgment is reversed 
by a private decision; but, more frequently, the strongest views of a 
single individual have to give way before the fiat of the majority, 
which is exactly the case in the present instance, where we refrain 
from pressing our private opinion on the public, in deference to that 
of the ornithologists whose names are aflixed to the synonyms of the 
lovely bird that forms the subject of the present chapter. 
PennanPs Parrakeet, for instance, has been described under the specific 
title “splendid'’^ by a number of writers, and we think with better 
judgment, but as that is a matter of opinion, we shall not, as we have 
said, dispute the point; although so strong were the feelings of Shaw 
upon the subject, that he went beyond even Gould in his admiration 
for the bird to whom he applied the epithet of gloriosus, namely, the 
grand Parrakeet named after Mr. Pennant. 
