Family: Psittacidae 
THE PARRAKEETS 
New Zealand and its outlying islands possess several species 
of these gaily-coloured, cheerful birds, of which three may now 
be found in the main islands : 
Cyanoramphus novae-zealandia& the red-frontecl parrakeet kakariki 
Cyanoramphus auriceps the yellow-fronted parrakeet kakaiiki 
Cyanoramphus malherbei the orange-fronted parrakeet 
Cyanoramphus unicolor the Antipodes Island parrakeet 
The red-fronted parrakeet. —Bright green with blue on the 
wings; forehead and top of the head crimson; eye crimson. 
The sexes and the young are alike in plumage, but the female 
is smaller than the male. The size of the bird is variable. 
The extreme length is 12 in., of which the tail is 6 in. 
Eggs .—Three to seven; pure white. Length, a little over 1 in. ; 
breadth, over f in. 
Nest .—As a rule the eggs are simply laid on pulverized 
decayed wood in a hollow dead tree. 
The yellow-fronted parrakeet is the same in colour, except 
that the forehead only is crimson, the top of the head yellowish- 
orange. 
The orange-fronted parrakeet is the same, except that the 
forehead is orange, the crown pale yellow. 
The Antipodes Island parrakeet is a somewhat larger bird, 
gieen in colour, the outer primaries bluish. Eye crimson. 
All these birds, excepting the orange-fronted parrakeet, are 
on Ivapiti Island, the Antipodes Island species having been 
liberated by Dr. L. Cockayne in 1907. I have seen it there, 
and in the summer of 1924 I saw the yellow-fronted species for 
the first time. A pair was settled on a spray of manuka, 
ceding on the ripe cocksfoot, and they allowed us to approach 
p 
