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•pENNANT’S 'pARRAKEET. 
Psittacus Pennanti, Lthm., Russ. 
Synonyms: Platycercus Pennanti, Vges.; Psittacus gloriosus, Shw.; 
Psittacus sjplendidus, Gk.; Psittacus elegans, Khl.; etc. 
German: Pennant’s Sittich. 
P ENNANT’S Parrakeet is a magnificent creature, applied to wHicli 
tlie epithets gloriosus and splendidus are scarcely an exaggeration. 
It was known to Beckstein, who named it after our countryman, the 
well-known naturalist Pennant; but in the English translation of the 
old German’s works, it is called “the Purple Parrot.” Bechstein con- 
sidered that “it very much resembles the Sparrow-Hawk”, but was 
in error in supposing that ^'in the female, which the bird-sellers pass 
as a different species, under the name of the Palm Tree Parrot, the 
prevailing colour is gi’eenish yellow”, for the sexes are identical in 
appearance, and can scarcely be accurately differentiated except by 
internal, and, consequently, post-mortem examination: an experienced 
eye, however, can generally manage to pick out a pair from among a 
number of these birds after watching them a short time, for they fre- 
quently caress each other; but it is extremely difficult to determine 
the sex of a given individual seen alone. 
The gorgeous colours of this splendid bird, which Mr. Wiener con- 
siders, “if anything, too loud to please all tastes”, are nevertheless 
truly magnificent; and as the bird is of considerable size, they show 
with greater effect than if it were of smaller dimensions. Frequently, 
when traversing the Australian bush, we have been startled by the 
sudden dash across our path of a flock of these brilliantly-plumaged 
creatures, that shone in the bright rays of the sun like a flash of ruby 
lightning, so thoroughly dazzling the eye, that to shoot them, as they 
passed, we found to be impossible; for they are swift on the wing, 
and dashing from the darkness of the timber on one side of the open 
road, to the gloom of the gum trees on the other, they were gone 
