APROSMICTUS INSIGNISSMUS, Gould. 
Beautiful King'-Parrot. 
Aprosmictus insignissimns, Gould, P. Z. S. 1875, p. 314. 
I WISH It were in my power to write a complete history of the splendid Parrot figured In the accompanying 
Plate. All that is at present known is that it was shot, in 1874, a few miles north of the village of Dalhy, 
on the Darling Downs, in Queensland. My first knowledge ot its existence was through a life-sized sketch 
from the hands of the son of Mr. Waller. Since then the actual specimen has been forwarded to me 
by Mr. Coxen, who has purchased it for the Infant museum of Brisbane. 
Those ornithologists who have paid attention to the Parrots of Australia, either in a state of nature or in 
the cabinet, will at once perceive the affinity of this bird with the ordinary King-Parrot of the brushes of 
New South 'Wales {Aprosmictus scapulatus). In structure it is very similar to that bird, while in colour it 
greatly partakes of Ptistes. In their habits and local habitations, however, Ptistes and Aprosmictus 
widely differ. Aprosmictus is almost solely an inhabitant of the thick brush, while Ptistes is as exclusively a 
frequenter of the thinly timbered open plains ; the former is dull, quiet, and slow in its movements, while 
the latter passes over the tops of the highest trees of the plains with a strong vigorous flight. Each of them 
has a well-developed os furcatorium, a bone not found in Platycercus and allied genera. 
The King-Parrot has a stout bill, the lower half of which is black, the upper red ; while in Ptistes both 
mandibles are highly coloured; the former has also a shorter and less ample wing than the latter. 
I mention this particularly to show the improbability of this bird being a Insus, or hybrid, between the 
birds above mentioned ; and it may be that it is an accidental visitor from New Guinea. 
The following is a repetition of what is published in the ‘Proceedings of the Zoological Society’ for 
1875 
“ Head emerald green, excepting the centre of the crown and a patch on the nape, these parts being 
scarlet, the green forming a narrow frontal line between the nostrils and the crown ; round the hind neck a 
narrow collar of emerald green ; back, including the mantle and scapulars, deep grass-green, each feather 
obscurely edged with darker colour ; lower back and rump shining blue ; upper tail-coverts bright grass- 
green ; all the tail-feathers above deep grass-green, with indistinct narrow bars of darker colour on every 
one of them ; the underside of the tail uniform purplish black ; wings green, with a broad longitudinal patch 
of yellow, many of these feathers edged with scarlet, this mark being very indistinct and similar to that seen 
in the male of Ptistes \ under wing-coverts greenish blue; inner lining of quills purplish black like the 
lower surface of the tail ; under surface of body scarlet, with dashes of bright green on the flanks ; under 
tail-coverts green, fringed with scarlet ; both mandibles of the bill bright orange-red ; legs blackish. Total 
length 15j inches, wing 9, tail 71, tarsus ?. 
It is pretty evident that this specimen had not quite completed its fully adult livery. If it had done so, 
the green feathers on the back of the head would have been red. 
In conclusion I must thank the authorities of the Brisbane Museum for the extreme courtesy which 
induced them to send so valuable a bird to England for the purpose of this work. I have thus been enabled 
to give a life-size illustration of this remarkable and interesting species. 
