in A J‘J°n ' 
\ r. -r ■ — 
The Emu 
Official Organ of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists’ Union 
1- 
“ Birds of a Feather.” 
Vol. XXIV.] 
1st JULY, 1924. 
[Part 1 
Notes on the Golden-Shouldered and 
Hooded Parrots* 
By A. S. LE SOUEF, C.M.Z.S., Taronga Zoological Park, and 
J. R. KINGHORN, C.M.Z.S., Australian Museum, Sydney. 
In June, 1922, Taronga Park received through the courtesy 
of Mr. IT. L. White tea young specimens of Golden-shouldered 
Parrots (Pxephotus chrysopterygius) collected by Mr. W. 
McLennan at Coen, North Queensland. 
These birds have now attained full plumage, and as they show 
some marked differences in external characters, colour, habits 
and call notes, from P. dissimilis, the Hooded Parrot (of which 
the Park possesses an extensive series from the Northern Terri¬ 
tory), we think it advisable to record them here, thereby reducing 
the possibility of future mistakes. 
For reference purposes we might state that Mathews, in his 
“Birds of Australia/* vol. vi., p. 425, 1917, discussed the matter 
and placed P. dissimilis in the synonymy of P. chrysopterygius . 
though on page 430 of the same work he admitted .P. dissimilis 
as a sub-species. 
Later, IT. L. White, in The limit, xxii., 1922, p. 98 ,wrote: ‘‘A 
considerable amount of mystery was attached to this beautiful 
little Parrot, it being confused with the Hooded Parrot; Psephoius * 
dissimilis, until W. McLennan set all doubts iit rest by securing 
a pair on the Archer River, and sending them to Mathews, who 
confirmed Gould’s identification made in 1857/’ 
On comparing the two species, both with living specimens and 
skins in the Museum, we find that P. chrysopterygius is distinctly 
smaller and more slender than P. dissimilis; furthermore, it is 
much more active and'perky, and has, in addition to the typical 
“cluk-cluk” note, a soft and pleasing whistle resembling “joee- 
joee,” with an occasional “jeeo,” neither of which have we heard 
uttered by P. dissimilis, the note of which is rather harsh. 
