_J. Gould and H.C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
PLATYCERCUS FLAVIVENTRIS.
Yellow-bellied Parrakeet.
_Psittacus flaviventris_, Temm. in Linn. Trans., vol. xiii. pp.
116–118.
———— _Brownii_, Kuhl, Nova Acta, etc., vol. x. p. 56. no. 90.
_Perruche à large queue_, Le Vaill. Hist. Nat. des Perr., pl. 80.
_Van Diemen’s Parrot?_, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. ii. p. 130. no. 33.
_Platycercus flaviventris_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv.
p. 281.—Gould in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part II.
_Sulphur-headed Parrot?_, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. ii. p. 133. no. 35.
_New Caledonian Parrot?_, Lath. Ib., vol. ii. p. 173. no. 86.
_Psittacus Caledonicus?_, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. i. p. 102.—Gmel.
Linn., vol. i. p. 328.
_Caledonian Parrot?_, Lath. Gen. Syn., vol. i. p. 248.
_Green Parrot_, Colonists of Van Diemen’s Land.
There appears to be so much confusion respecting this bird that I have
thought it best to adopt M. Temminck’s name of _flaviventris_, although
I have little doubt that the _Psittacus Caledonicus_ of Latham, as well
as most of the other synonyms given above, refer to the same bird.
It is dispersed over all parts of Van Diemen’s Land and the islands in
Bass’s Straits; but is not confined to particular localities like the
_Platycercus eximius_, with which it sometimes associates. It keeps in
small companies, which appear to be the brood of a single pair, and
frequents every variety of situation, from the low-crowned hills and
gulleys in the depths of the forest to the open cleared lands and
gardens of the settlers. It runs over the ground with great facility,
and when observed in small flocks searching for seeds among the tall
grass of the open parts, few birds are seen to greater advantage.
Independently of grass-seeds, the flowers of the _Eucalypti_, insects
and their larvæ constitute a considerable portion of the food of this
bird, and it may be often seen very busily engaged about the branches
loaded with flowers in the depths of the forest far away from any
cleared lands.
Its powers of flight are very considerable, and it readily passes from
one district to another whenever a scarcity of food or any other cause
prompts it so to do; the passage being performed in a succession of wide
undulating sweeps; hence it not unfrequently happens that large flights
leave the forest with a shrill whistling call, and descend to the newly
ripened corn of the settlers, and there commit such serious havoc as to
call down the vengeance of the farmer on the whole race.
Most of my readers are doubtless aware that Parrots are frequently eaten
by man, but few of them are, perhaps, prepared to hear that many species
of the family constitute at certain seasons a staple portion of the food
of the settlers: soon after the establishment of the colonies of Van
Diemen’s Land, pies made of the bird here represented were commonly
eaten at every table, and even at the present time are not of unfrequent
occurrence. It was not long after my arrival in the country before I
tested the goodness of the flesh of this bird as a viand, and I found it
so excellent that I partook of it whenever an opportunity for my so
doing presented itself. It is delicate, tender, and well-flavoured; but,
like that of all other birds, is not so good at some seasons as at
others, and very old birds are of course not equal to those of one year
old. If we take into consideration the kind of food upon which it
subsists, the extreme delicacy and fineness of its skin, and its
comparatively inactive mode of life, we might naturally conclude that
its flesh would be such as I have described it to be; and although this
observation applies more or less to all the species of the genera
_Platycercus_ and _Euphema_, I consider the present bird to be in this
respect preeminent.
Like other species of the genus, it bears confinement well; and although
it is not so frequently met with in the cage or the aviary as some of
its more gaily attired brethren, it must not be attributed to any
inaptitude for domestication on the part of the bird.
The sexes during the first year are not to be distinguished from each
other, but when fully adult, the female is smaller in size and less
brilliantly coloured than her mate.
Holes in the large gum-trees afford a natural breeding-place. The eggs,
which are laid in September and the three following months, are pure
white, and six or eight in number, one inch and two lines long by eleven
and a half lines broad. When the young are first hatched they are
covered with long, white down, and present an appearance not very
dissimilar to a round ball of white cotton-wool.
I found this species very abundant on the banks of the Tamar, and in one
instance I saw hundreds congregated at a barn-door among the straw of
some recently-thrashed corn, precisely after the manner of the Sparrow
and Pigeon in England.
Forehead crimson; crown of the head and back of the neck pale yellow,
each feather very slightly margined with brown; space under the eye dull
crimson; cheeks blue; back and shoulders dark olive-black, each feather
edged with green; middle of the wings blue; the basal half of the
primaries blue on their external edges, the remainder blackish brown;
rump and two middle tail-feathers green, the remainder of the
tail-feathers dark blue at the base, lighter towards the tip; under
surface of the body yellow; bill flesh-colour; feet greyish brown.
The adults of both sexes are very similar, but a considerable difference
exists in birds of different ages, the young of the year being greenish
olive with a slight tinge of blue on the cheeks, wings, and outer
tail-feathers, and a faint indication of the red mark on the forehead.
As they advance in age they gradually assume the plumage of the adult,
which is not fully accomplished until the second or third year.
The Plate represents fully adult sexes of the natural size.
[Illustration:
PLATYCERCUS FLAVEOLUS: _Gould_.
_J. & E. Gould del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
PLATYCERCUS FLAVEOLUS, _Gould_.
Yellow-rumped Parrakeet.
_Platycercus flaveolus_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 26.
I have no other information to communicate respecting this beautiful
_Platycercus_, than that it is an inhabitant of New South Wales, and is
abundant on the banks of the rivers Lachlan and Darling. The bird was
first sent to this country by Captain Sturt some years since, when he
presented a beautiful example with several other rare birds to the
Zoological Society of London. Since that period Major Sir Thomas L.
Mitchell has introduced several other specimens to England, and I am
indebted to this gentleman for the only one in my cabinet. I also saw in
the Museum at Sydney several specimens of this little-known bird, which
had been collected by Sir Thomas during his expeditions to the Darling,
&c. In all the specimens here mentioned little or no variation in their
plumage is observable—a circumstance, which induces me to suspect, that,
like the Rose-hill Parrakeet, the young are clothed in a similar
character of plumage to the adults, or if not, that they gain the full
colouring at a very early age: the sexes offer no external differences.
Forehead crimson; cheeks light blue; crown of the head, back of the
neck, back, rump, upper tail-coverts, and all the under surface pale
yellow, the feathers of the back being black in the centre and pale
yellow on their outer edges; middle of the wing pale blue; spurious wing
and the outer web of the basal portion of the primaries deep
violet-blue, the remainder of the primaries dark brown; two central
tail-feathers tinted with green at the base, passing into blue towards
the tip; the remaining feathers have the basal portion of their outer
webs deep blue, passing into very pale blue towards their tips; the
inner webs brown for a greater or less portion of their length, the
extreme tips of all being white; bill light horn-colour; feet dark
brown.
The Plate represents a male of the natural size.
[Illustration: