_J. Gould and H.C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
PEZOPORUS FORMOSUS, _Ill._
Ground Parrakeet.
_Psittacus formosus_, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. i. p. 103.—Kuhl, Consp.
Psitt. in Nova Acta, vol. x. p. 45.
—— _terrestris_, Shaw, Mus. Lev., p. 217. pl. 53.—Ib. Zool. of New
Holl., pl. 3.—Ib. Nat. Misc., pl. 228.
_Perruche ingambé_, Le Vaill. Hist. Nat. des Perr., tom. i. p. 66. pl.
32.
_Black-spotted Parrakeet of Van Diemen’s Land_, D’Entrecast. Voy.,
vol. ii. p. 47. pl. x.
_Ground Parrot_, Lath. Gen. Syn., Supp., vol. ii. p. 26.—Shaw’s Gen.
Zool., vol. viii. p. 454. pl. 66.—Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. ii. p. 137.
_Pezoporus formosus_, Ill. Prod., p. 201.—Vig. and Horsf. in Linn.
Trans., vol. xv. p. 285.—Wagl. Mon. Psitt. in Abhand., pp. 490 and
520.—Swains. Class. of Birds, vol. ii. p. 305.—G. R. Gray, Gen. of
Birds, 2nd Edit., p. 66.
—— _rufifrons_, Bourj. de St. Hil. Supp. to Le Vaill. Hist. Nat. des
Perr., pl. 9.
_Bȍo-run-dȕr-dee_, Aborigines northward of Perth in Western Australia.
_Djȁr-doon-gȕr-ree_, Aborigines around Perth.
_Djul-bat-̏la_, Aborigines southward of Perth.
_Ky-lȍr-ing_, Aborigines of King George’s Sound.
_Goolingnang_, Aborigines near Sydney, New South Wales.
_Swamp Parrakeet_, Colonists of Van Diemen’s Land.
_Ground Parrakeet_, Colonists of New South Wales and Western
Australia.
The Ground Parrakeet is diffused over the whole of the southern portions
of Australia, including Van Diemen’s Land, wherever localities exist
suitable to its habits, and so far as I could learn, it is everywhere a
stationary species. It has never been observed in the northern latitudes
of the continent, but our knowledge of the productions of those parts of
Australia is so very imperfect, that I cannot positively affirm that it
does not exist there. Unlike some of the African members of its family,
which are inelegant in form and slow and ungraceful in their actions,
the _Pezoporus formosus_ is as active and graceful as can well be
imagined; and although in its colouring it cannot vie with some of its
more gaudily attired brethren, it possesses a style of plumage and
diversity of markings far from unpleasing. Having very frequently
encountered it in a state of nature, I am enabled to state that in its
actions it differs from every other known species of its race, as it
also does in its habits and economy, which I shall now attempt to
describe. Whether the power of perching is entirely denied to it or not
I am uncertain, but I never saw it fly into a tree, nor could I ever
force it to take shelter on the branches. It usually frequents either
sandy sterile districts covered with tufts of rank grass and herbage, or
low swampy flats abounding with rushes and the other kinds of vegetation
peculiar to such situations. It is generally observed either singly or
in pairs, but from its very recluse habits and great powers of running
it is seldom or ever seen until it is flushed, and then only for a short
time, as it soon pitches again and runs off to a place of seclusion,
often under the covert of the Grass-tree (_Xanthorrhœa_), which abounds
in the districts it frequents. A striking analogy in the foregoing
habits to those of the Gallinaceæ and some of the Grallatores,—Snipes,
&c., is very apparent; and a still further analogy to those tribes of
birds is exhibited in the manner of its crouching on the approach of
danger and in the strong scent it emits, which has many times caused my
dogs to road it, and point as dead as they would have done had game been
before them; consequently, when shooting over swampy land in Australia,
the sportsman is never certain whether a parrakeet or a snipe will rise
to the point of his dog. It flies near the ground with great rapidity,
frequently making several zigzag turns in the short distance of a
hundred yards, beyond which it seldom passes without again pitching to
the ground. Its flesh is excellent, being much more delicate in flavour
than that of the snipe, and equalling, if not surpassing, that of the
quail. Its white eggs, the number of which I could not ascertain, are
deposited on the bare ground. I possess examples of the young of all
ages, from the egg to maturity, some killed in Van Diemen’s Land, and
others from various parts of Australia; I also procured both adults and
young on Flinders’ Island, where I found them breeding on the grassy
plains which cover the greater portion of that island. The young assume
the colouring of the adult at a very early age, but the sexes offer no
external difference by which they can be distinguished.
Plumage of the whole of the upper surface dark grass-green, each feather
crossed by irregular bands of black and yellow; feathers of the crown
and nape with a broad streak of black down the centre; forehead scarlet;
neck and breast pale yellowish green, passing into bright greenish
yellow on the abdomen and under tail-coverts, crossed by numerous
irregular waved blackish bands; primaries and spurious wings green on
their outer webs and dark brown on the inner, each of the latter with a
triangular spot of pale yellow near the base; four centre tail-feathers
green, crossed by numerous narrow bars of yellow; lateral tail-feathers
yellow, crossed by numerous bars of deep green; irides black with a fine
ring of light grey; feet and legs bluish flesh-colour.
The figures are of the natural size.
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