AY Pra 4 in the upper mandible obsolete; the under remarkably | lant situation between the two groups, thus strikingly appashort, but very deep. (Sw.) We select as an example Macrocercus Ararauna. Description.-Bill black, largely and strongly developed. The upper mandible, which not unfrequently measures from the forehead to the tip 3 inches, is much deflected: the under mandible is short, deep, and very stout. Cheeks white, naked, with three fine narrow lines of black plumelets under the eyes, the irides of which are yellowish. Beneath the under mandible a broad black band extending upwards to the ears behind a great part of the white naked patch. Plumage rich blue above, blending into green on the forehead, crown, some of the smaller wing-coverts, and rump. Greater quills and tail nearly violet. Wings and tail, beneath, yellow. The rest of the under parts rich saffron. Legs and feet blackish-grey. Total length about 39 inches, of which the tail measures some 24 inches. Geographical Distribution.-Tropical America. The Brazils, banks of the Marañon, or Amazon, river, Guiana, Surinam, &c. Habits.-Though generally living in pairs, the Blue and Yellow Maccaws sometimes assemble in large flocks, their favourite haunts being swampy woods where a species of palm on whose fruit they principally feed is abundant. They fly well and often very high, showing a great command of wing, especially before they alight on the top of the lofty trees which they select for their resting-place. The two eggs, which are laid in the hollows of decayed trees, as well as the young, are said to receive the parental care of the male as well as of the female, which have two broods a year generally. Mr. Selby (Naturalist's Library-Parrots) notices a very fine individual completely domesticated at Dr. Neill's, Cannonmills (near Edinburgh), which is allowed the freedom of several apartments; and he tells us that when the bird is desirous of being noticed, it calls out Robert,' the name of its earliest master, very distinctly, but that it has not acquired more than one other conventional sound. rent, the species that exhibit these characters have received the familiar name of Parrakeet-Maccaws in our language, and of Perruche-Aras among the French ornithologists. Like the true Maccaws, they are exclusively natives of the New World.' (Zool. Journ., vol. ii.) Mr. Vigors adds in a note, that a species nearly allied to both these groups had then lately been brought to this country. Generic Character.-Heud feathered, space round the eye naked. Bill thick, rather short; upper mandible compressed at the apex, the lower mandible very short inclining inwards, deeply emarginate. Wings moderate; first and fourth quills equal, third rather longer, second longest; internal web of the first slightly notched near the middle, external webs of the second to the fifth inclusive gradually broader in the middle. Feet rather strong, tarsi short. (Vig.) Example, Psittacara leptorhyncha. Description.-Green; space round the eye white; interocular band and frontal fillet red; tail cinnamon red. Psittacara Leptorhyncha, The subfamily Palæornina, as it appears in Mr. Vigors and Dr. Horsfield's Description of the Australian Birds in the Collection of the Linnean Society (Linn. Trans., vol. xv.), consists of the genera Nanodes, Platycercus, Pezoporus, Palæornis, and Trichoglossus. Paleornis.-The Parrakeets forming this group belong to Continental India and some of the neighbouring islands in the Indian Ocean and Africa, with the exception of Paicornis Barrabandi (Polytelis of Wagler), which is a native of New Holland. India and its islands must however be considered as the principal locality of the species, which, according to Wagler's monograph, amounts to eleven, including Palæornis inornatus (Psittacus incarnatus of authors), which he adds to the group with doubt. These Ring Purrakeets, as they are generally termed, are justly held in high estimation for the symmetry of their form, the grace and elegance of their movements, the beauty of their colours, their great docility and powers of imitation, and their fond attachment to those with whom they are domesticated and who treat them with kindness. They were not less prized, as we have seen, by the antients; and becomes a not uninteresting inquiry to endeavour to certain what were the species known to them. Some st pose that Palæornis Alexandri was the only one: but though that species may have been and was probably the first introduced into Europe, we think that it will appear that it received a great number of the same species from that Mr. Vigors divides the genus into the following sections: those who confine the Parrakeets known to the antients to | is probable also that the Romans, particularly in later times, that bird have taken too narrow a view of the subject. Mr. Vigors, in the paper above alluded to, says'It is not easy to decide, although we may form a probable conjecture on the subject, how many and which of the species of Palæornis were known to the antients. Elian (De Nat. Anim., xvi. 2) tells us that they were acquainted with three species. But as some of the more common species approach each other most closely in their specific characters, it is not improbable that the differences between them might have been passed over by observers who were so little accustomed and had so little occasion to pay attention to minute distinctions, and that four or five species at least were familiar to antiquity. The birds that come from the remoter Indian islands, P. Papuensis, Malaccensis, and Xanthosomus, in particular, are in all likelihood among the number of those which have been only known in recent times. To these may of course be added the newlycharacterised species from New Holland, the P. Barrabandi. The beautiful blossom-headed species also, P. erythrocephalus and Bengalensis, which are even now more rarely met with than the neighbouring species, most probably did not come under the observations of the antients; for it is impossible that they should have passed over without notice the lovely and changeable roseate colour of the head, which casts into the shade even the collar round the neck so frequently alluded to by them, if either of these birds had been before them. The poets at least would have seized upon a character which involved so truly poetic an image, and Ovid or Statius would have woven it up among the most conspicuous wreaths of their beautiful elegiac garlands. P. bitorquatus, the locality of which is unknown, is at present of rare occurrence; but it formerly might have been more generally distributed. The species which we can imagine to have been best known to former times are the P. Pondicerianus and flavitorquis, which are diffused over the whole of the Indian continent, the former species more particularly, which is now also found dispersed over a * Lower mandible short. P. Alexandri, P. torquatus, P. flavitorquis, P. bitorqua tus, P. Xanthosomus, P. Malaccensis, P. erythrocephalus, P. Bengalensis, P. Pondicerianus, P. Barrabandi. **Lower mandible elongated. P. Papuensis. We select as an example the generic type, P. Alexandri. Description.-Green, with a vermillion collar; throat and band between the eyes black; spot on the wings purplered. Differs from P. torquatus by the greater size of the bill and the dark red spot on the shoulders. (Vig.) Locality.-Ceylon and parts of the continent of India. Platycercus (Loriets). Generic Character.-Bill rather short, the upper mandible rounded and dilated, the lower one short, deeply emar ginate, with the apex squared. Wings rounded; the first quill shorter than the second and equal to the fifth; second and third longest; the external webs of all except the first abruptly notched towards the middle. Tail broad, depressed, rather rounded or sub-graduated; the tail-feathers rounded at the apex. Feet with elevated tarsi; the toes slender and elongated, and the claws long and but little falcated. Example, Platycercus scapulatus, Tabuan Parrot, ot King's Parrot. Description.-Male.-Green; the head, neck, and body beneath scarlet; nuchal lunula and rump lazuline; longitudinal scapular line pale green-cerulean; tail-feathers black, with brilliant green reflections. Female.-Head and neck green. Habits, &c.-Mr. Caley seldom noticed a full-coloured specimen, that is, ied. He states that, when the Indian es fra e dest corn is ripe, they may be seen in large flocks on the farms, clinging on the stalks and occasioning much mischief to the corn. He apprehends that the greater part of these flocks are young birds, as it is rare to see a bright red one among them. The natives told him that this species breeds chiefly in a white gum-tree (a species of Eucalyptus), making its nip nest of a little grass, and lining it with feathers. It has, he adds, as many as twelve young ones, and the eggs are of a dirty white with black specks: the nest is found by its enlarging the hole at which it creeps in; this process gives the surrounding part a reddish appearance, which, forming a contrast with the whiteness of the other parts, renders it conspicuous. Mr. Swainson had one of these beautiful birds alive in his possession for many years. Its manners were gentle and timid. Like many of its congeners, it delighted to wash itself in a basin of water. In the day and during winter it was generally silent; but on a mild evening it would go on for two or three hours with a somewhat whistling note, sometimes shrill, but generally soft and pleasing. Its ordinary diet was moistened bread, with a little hemp and canary seed; but during summer and autumn the small garden fruits appeared to be highly welcome to (Zool. Ill., 2nd series.) Nymphicus. still darker at its extremity; in having the throat greyish- Habits, &c.-Mr. Gould, whose accurate description we have given from his grand work on the Birds of Australia, now in the course of publication, states that this species has many of the actions of the Platycerci, being extremely active and running round its cage with surprising agility, in which particular it is only equalled by the most terrestrial members of the family. To give some idea of the immense flocks of this beautiful bird which inhabit the interior of Australia, the same author informs us that his brother-inlaw, Stephen Coxen, Esq., procured more than two hundred examples during a single excursion into the interior. Euphemia, Wagl. (Nanodes, Vig.): Generic Character.-Bill short, the culmen rounded, higher than it is long, being very like that of Macrocercus, the lower mandible very short, inclining inwards, and emarit.ginate. Wings moderate, subacuminate; first and second quills, which are nearly equal, longest; the external webs of the second and third slightly emarginate towards the apex. Feet moderate; tarsi and toes rather slender. Tu graduated, cuneated; tail-feathers slender towards the apex. (Vig.) Example, Euphemia undulata. Generic Character.-Bill distinctly toothed, culmen slightly carinated; nostrils thick, tumid, naked; head crested; wings very long, outer web of the quills not sinuated; tail very broad, cuneated, the two middle tail-feathers conspicuously longest and pointed. (Sw.) (Mr. Swainson considers this to be the rasorial type.) Example, Nymphicus Nove Hollandiæ. Description.-Male.-Forehead, crest, and cheeks lemonyellow; ear-coverts rich reddish-orange; back of the neck, two centre tail-feathers, and the external margins of the primaries brownish-grey; back, shoulders, and all the under surface and outer tail-feathers greyish chocolate-brown, the shoulders and flanks being the darkest; a white mark extends from the shoulders lengthwise down the centre of the wing; bill and bare space round the eye brownish-grey; feet blackish-brown. Description.-Male.-Crown of the head and throat pale yellow, the latter ornamented on each side with several rich blue spots, a row of which, but of a darker tint, crosses the throat in the form of a crescent; sides and back of the head, back of the neck, upper part of the back, scapulars and wing-coverts olive brown, each feather having a crescentshaped mark of black near its extremity, and margined with yellow; primaries green on their outer edges, the tip and internal web brown; secondaries crossed by a broad band of yellow, which is continued, but much narrower, across some of the primaries; breast, all the under surface, lower part of the back, and the tail-coverts fine pale green; two centre tail-feathers deep blue at the base, passing into deep green at the tip; the remainder of the tail-feathers bright yellow, tipped with dark green; bill horn-colour at the base, passing into pale yellow at the tip; feet fleshcolour. Female.-Differs in being less brilliant in all her markings, and in having the blue spots on the throat less defined and irregular in form. Total length seven inches and a half (Gould, Birds of Australia.) Locality.-Interior of New South Wales. run on the ground with great facility, much after the man- on the sides azure-blue; throat, breast, and flanks orange ner of the true Platycerci, or Ground Parrakeets, to which crimson. (Sw.) he is of opinion they are closely allied in affinity. Trichoglossus (Lorikeets). Generic Character.-Bill somewhat elongated, rather compressed; lower mandible nearly straight, the margin entire, longer than it is high. Tongue furnished below with many marginal bristles at the apex. Wings moderate; first quill longest, second and third a little shorter, webs entire. Feet rather short; tarsi somewhat covered with the femoral feathers; acrotarsi a little feathered below the knee: toes rather strong, depressed; claws strong, falcate. Tail graduated; the tail-feathers rather narrower at the apex. (Vig.) Locality.-New Holland. Mr. Vigors (Linn. Trans., vol. xv.) remarks, that besides the external characters specified above, which separate this genus from the rest of the subfamily Palæorning, a decided ground of distinction is exhibited in the formation of the tongue; the under part of this member being furnished at the apex with numerous strong hairs or bristles, of a brush-like structure, and which seem to serve the bird for the purposes of suction. (Ante, p. 84.) He remarks that the tendency of a considerable portion of the birds of New Holland to feed by suction upon vegetable juices, for which a sufficient provision is made by nature in the luxuriant vegetation and the constant succession of flowers in that country, renders this singular deviation from the general form of the Parrot's tongue less surprising; and he further observes that it is to be remarked that although the Parrots are in general a long-lived race, and of all birds perhaps the most easily reared, and although the birds of the present group are most numerous in New Holland, few of them have been kept alive for any length of time in a state of confinement. He accounts for this from the probable ignorance of their natural mode of feeding. 6 The natural and acquired habits of the species of this genus require some notice. Mr. Caley informs us that the Blue-mountain Parrot, War'rin of the natives (Trichoglossus hæmatodus), is remarkable for its docility and attachment to some people, whilst it is a perfect scold to others who may have teazed or offended it. Flocks of these birds,' says this accurate observer, may be seen in the Eucalypti trees when in flower, in different parts of the country, but in the greatest number near their breeding-places. It does not eat any kind of grain, even when in a domesticated state. It is much subject to fits, which generally prove fatal; and it is rare to find an individual kept alive above a couple of years. One that I kept, on being shown a figure of a coloured plant, used to put its tongue to the flowers, as if with the intent of sucking them; and I have seen it make the same attempt with a piece of cotton furniture. The flesh of this bird is very good eating.' Again, speaking of the Crimson-fronted Parrakeet, Coolich of the natives (Trichoglossus concinnus), Mr. Caley states that it may be observed in large flocks sucking the Eucalypti flowers. He adds that, like the Blue-mountain Parrot, it is subject to fits, which generally prove fatal, that it is seldom kept alive, and that its breath or some part about its head emits a very sweet odour. The natives told him that this species breeds in the hollow boughs of trees, scraping out the decayed mould, and making its nest of it. The eggs, he informs us, are green, without spots, and the number of young two. Of the Small Parrakeet, Jerryang of the natives (Trichoglossus pusillus), he observes that this, like the Coolich, is seen in very large flocks in the Eucalypti trees when in blossom. 'The natives,' says he, now and then bring in the young ones, but they seldom live long. I had three young ones for some time, which used to huddle together and give out a very pleasing note. They all died, strongly convulsed, and nearly at the same time; the limbs were as stiff the moment life was extinct as if the body had become cold. The natives tell me that it builds in the hollow limbs of trees, making no other nest than of the decayed wood. It has four young ones. The eggs are white, and without spot.' Mr. Caley also learned from the natives that the nest of this species, of the Ground Parrot (N. pulchellus), of the Dulang (Pl. Pennantii), and of the Coolich (Tri. concinnus), smell very strong and offensive of dung. Example, Trichoglossus hæmatodus (Vig., Trichoglossus Swainsonii, Jardine and Selby). Blue-bellied Parrakeet. and weak form of the bill, and also for a formation of the Lorius.-The true Lories are remarkable for the elongated tongue, similar to that in Trichoglossus. (Ante, p. 84.) They are inhabitants of the islands of the East, and are con sidered by Mr. Vigors to be the aberrant group of the family. Their colours are of the most rich and mellow description, and the birds are highly prized, not only for their beautiful plumage, but for their lively, active, and affectionate disposition, and their great docility in the ar ticulation of words and even sentences. Wings Generic Character.-Bill elongated, weak. pointed, two first quills longest. Tail moderate, rounded or graduated; the feathers broad, and hardly narrow at their tips. Example, Lorius Domicella. Description.-Rich scarlet; upon the upper part of the Description.-Green; head, middle of the body, and bands breast a yellow collar; crown of the head blackish purple in front, passing into violet-purple behind; upper surface of Locality.-The Moluccas and other Eastern Islands. Plyctolophus (True Cockatoos). Generic Character.-Bill strong, short, very broad, culmen much curved. Head with a folding crest. Base of the under mandible frequently concealed by feathers. Wings long; secondaries, tertiaries, and the tail-feathers sometimes mucronate. Example, Plyctolophus galeritus (Crested Cockatoo, White). Description.-White, crest, and internal webs of the lateral tail-feathers yellow; under wing-coverts sulphureous. Locality, New Holland. Habits, &c.-Mr. Caley's notes contain the following observations on the Crested Cockatoo :-This bird is called by the natives Car'away, and also Curriang. I have met with it in large flocks at the conflux of the Grose and Hawkesbury rivers, below Mulgo'ey on the former river, and in the long meadow near the Nepean river. They are shy, and not easily approached. The flesh of the young ones is accounted good eating. I have heard from the natives that it makes its nest in the rotten limbs of trees, of nothing more than the vegetable mould formed by the decayed parts of the bough; that it has no more than two young ones at a time, and that the eggs are white without spots. The natives first find where the nests are by the bird making Co'tora in an adjoining tree, which lies in conspicuous heaps on the ground. Co'tora is the bark stripped off the smaller branches, and cut into small pieces. When the young ones are nearly fledged, the old birds cut a quan Plyctolophus gaieritus. tity of small branches from the adjoining trees, but never from that in which the nest is situated. They are sometimes found to enter the hollow limb as far as two yards. The nests are generally formed in a Black butted Gumtree; and also in Coroy'bo, Cajim'bbora, and Yarrowar'ry trees (species of Eucalyptus). Their breeding-places appear to be local.' Mr. Vigors divides the genus into the following sections: Cristâ plicatili, acuminata, antrorsum tortâ. Of this division he gives Plyctolophus galeritus above described as the example. ** Cristâ rotundatâ, retrorsum incumbente. Of this section he gives the Rosalbin Cockatoo, Plyctolophus Eos, Psittacus Eos (Kuhl) as the example. The Tricolour-crested Cockatoo, Plyctolophus Leadbeateri, Vig., Cacatua Leadbeateri, Wagl., also a native of New Holland, is the most splendid species yet discovered. Nothing appears to be known of its habits. In Mitchell's interesting Journal, where a coloured figure of the bird is given, it is called the Cockatoo of the Darling, and the enterprising author states that a flight of them flew over the heads of his party from the north-west when he was endeavouring to ascertain the final course of the Lachlan. The species is beautifully figured in Lear's 'Parrots,' and in the volume on Parrots by Sir W. Jardine and Mr. Selby. (Naturalist's Library, Ornithology, vol. vi.) In the same family of Plyctolophine Mr. Vigors places his genus Calyptorhynchus, the chief difference between which and Plyctolophus consists in the greater elevation and comparative shortness of the bill. The species appear to be confined to Australia. Of Calyptorhynchus Banksii, the Banksian Cockatoo, Mr. Caley says, "The native name of these birds is Geringora. I have met with them in various parts of the country. In the north rocks, a few miles to the northward of Paramatta, I have frequently seen them, but never many together. The natives tell me it breeds in winter in Mun'ning-trees, or Blood-trees of the colonists (a species of Eucalyptus), but makes no Co'tora. It has three young ones, but of the eggs I could obtain no information.' Of the Calyptorhynchus funereus, Funereal Cockatoo, Mr. Caley says, 'Its native name is Wy'la, so called from the similitude of that word to the sound which it makes. I have never seen them together in any numbers, not more perhaps than half-a-dozen at a time; but I have met with them in many different places. Sometimes they come within half a mile of the centre of Paramatta, where I have shot them in the trees. The natives told me it made its nest in Yar ro-trees (a species of Eucalyptus), using only the vegetable mould. It makes no Co'tora, but cuts off the small branches of Apple-trees (a species of Angophora). It has two young ones.' Mr. Vigors and Dr. Horsfield have no doubt that the following observations in Mr. Caley's notes apply to Calyptorhynchus Cookii, Cook's Cockatoo. 'The natives,' says the last-mentioned traveller, tell me of another kind of Cockatoo (besides Wyla and Geringora, which they call Carat). It is very shy. It scrapes dirt out of the hollow boughs, and makes its nest as the others do. It lays two eggs, the colour of which I did not ascertain. The nest is found by watching the bird into the hole. It does not make Co'tora, nor cut off the branches of the trees; but it cuts off May'rybor'ro and Mun'mow (the fruit of two species of Persoonia), without however eating them, before they are ripe, to the great injury and vexation of the natives.' Specimens of these three species of Calyptorhynchus and of Cal. Solandri will be found in the collection of Australian birds in the possession of the Linnean Society of London. Here may be noticed the Aratoo (Microglossus of Wagler), of which the Goliah Aratoo, Microglossus aterrimus, Wagl., Great Black Cockatoo of Edwards, is an example. Locality, Papua, Wagiou, New Guinea, and other Eastern Australian Islands. Psittacus (True Parrots). Mr. Vigors is of opinion that the group of the Psittacida, to which the name of Psittacus should be applied, may perhaps be considered to be that which comprises the Psittacus Amazonicus of Brisson and some allied species. That at least, he observes, is the group best known under the old scientific term, and at the same time under the familiar |