Psittacus autumnalis, LINNÆUS; Le Crick à tête bleue, BUFFON; Der
Herbstkrickpapagey, BECHSTEIN.
This is about the size of a pigeon. The beak is horn colour, with a long
streak of orange on each side of the upper mandible; the whole circle of
the head and the throat are blue; the top of the head and under part of
the neck to the breast are red; the rest of the body is green, except
the large quill-feathers, which are blue; some, however, are red, with a
blue tip.
_Varieties._--1. The head, instead of being red and blue, is red and
white.
2. The forehead scarlet, the top of the head blue, an orange spot under
the eyes, the upper border of the wings light yellow.
3. Forehead and throat red behind, and under the eyes blue, the top of
the head greenish yellow, the lower border of the wings red, the end of
the tail pale light yellow.
4. All the body blackish except the breast, the feathers of which are
edged with dark brown and red.
OBSERVATIONS.--These birds inhabit Guinea, learn very little, and
continually cry "_guirr, guirr_."