_J. & E. Gould del^t._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
LATHAMUS DISCOLOR
Swift Lorikeet.
_Red-shouldered Paroquet_, _Psittacus discolor_, Shaw, in White’s
Voy., pl. in p. 263.
_Red-shouldered Parrakeet_, Phill. Bot. Bay, pl. in p. 269.—Lath. Gen.
Syn. Supp., ii. p. 90.
_Psittacus discolor_, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. xxi.—Swains. Zool.
Ill., 1st Ser., pl. 62.—Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. ii. p. 176.—Shaw’s
Zool., vol. viii. p. 466.
_Psittacus humeralis_, Kuhl, Consp. Psitt. in Nova Acta, vol. x. p.
47.
_Psittacus Australis_, Ibid. p. 48.—Vieill. Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat.,
tom. xxv. p. 342.—Ibid. Ency. Méth., 3ième Part. p. 1384.
_Perruche Banks_, Le Vaill. Hist. des Perr., p. 104, pl. 50.
_Nanodes discolor_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p.
276.—Swains. Class. of Birds, vol. ii. p. 305.—Steph. Cont. of
Shaw’s Zool., vol. xiv. p. 118.
_Euphema discolor_, Wagl. Mon. Psitt. in Abhand., vol. i. pp. 492 and
545.—G. R. Gray, List of Gen. of Birds, p. 52.
_Psittacus Banksianus_, Vieill. Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat., tom. xxv. p.
342.—Ibid. Ency. Méth., 3ième Part. p. 1383.
_Lathamus rubrifrons_, Less. Traité d’Orn., p. 205.
_La Perruche Latham_, Le Vaill. Hist. des Perr., p. 123, pl. 62,
young.
_Psittacus discolor_, Kuhl, Consp. Psitt. in Nova Acta, vol. x. p. 48,
young.
_Swift Parrakeet_, Colonists of Van Diemen’s Land.
No one of the Australian birds will be more deeply imprinted upon my
memory than the Swift Lorikeet, associated as it is with many of the
most pleasing recollections connected with my visit to that part of the
world. The accompanying drawing was one of many made by Mrs. Gould in
Van Diemen’s Land, during a long residence in the house of the Governor,
Sir John Franklin, who, together with his amiable lady, took the
greatest interest in our pursuits, and rendered us every possible
assistance their kind hearts and excellent dispositions could suggest.
Much confusion has hitherto existed both as regards the generic
appellation and the division of the _Psittacidæ_, to which this elegant
Lorikeet should be referred; but as I have endeavoured to clear up these
points in my observations upon the genus, it is needless to repeat them
here. It is a migratory species, passing the summer and breeding-season
only in the more southern parts of the Australian continent and Van
Diemen’s Land, and retiring northward for the remainder of the year.
During September and the four following months, it is not only abundant
in all the gum-forests of Van Diemen’s Land, but is very common in the
shrubberies and gardens at Hobart Town, small flights being constantly
seen passing up and down the streets, and flying in various directions
over the houses. They approach close to the windows, and are even
frequently to be seen on the gum-trees bordering the streets, and within
a few feet of the heads of the passing inhabitants, being so intent upon
gathering the honey from the fresh-blown flowers which daily expand, as
almost entirely to disregard the presence of the spectator. The tree to
which they are so eagerly attracted, and a branch of which is figured in
the accompanying Plate, is the _Eucalyptus gibbosus_, young or
cultivated specimens of which appear to have finer blossoms than those
in their native forests. It is certainly the finest of the genus I have
ever seen, and when its pendent branches are covered with thick clusters
of pale yellow blossoms, presents a most beautiful appearance; these
blossoms are so charged with saccharine matter, that the birds soon fill
themselves with honey, even to their very throats: several of those I
shot, upon being held up by the feet, discharged from their mouths a
stream of this liquid to the amount of a dessert-spoonful or more, as
clear as water. Small flocks of from four to twenty in number are also
frequently to be seen passing over the town, chasing each other with the
quickness of thought, and uttering at the same time a shrill screaming
noise, like the Swift of Europe, whence in all probability has arisen
its colonial name. Sometimes these flights appear to be taken for the
sake of exercise, or in the mere playfulness of disposition, while at
others the birds are passing from one garden to another, or proceeding
from the town to the forests at the foot of Mount Wellington, or _vice
versâ_. Their plumage so closely assimilates in colour to the leaves of
the trees they frequent, and they moreover creep so quietly yet actively
from branch to branch, clinging in every possible position, that were it
not for their movements and the trembling of the leaves, it would be
difficult to perceive them without a minute examination of the tree upon
which they have alighted. I found them breeding about midway between
Hobart Town and Brown’s River, but was not fortunate enough to obtain
their eggs, in consequence of the situations selected for their
reception being holes in the loftiest and most inaccessible trees; they
are said to be two in number, and the circumstance of my having found a
fully-developed hardshelled egg in the ovarium of a female I dissected
on the sixth of October, enables me to state that, like those of the
other members of the family, they are perfectly white.
The only part of New South Wales in which I have observed them was on
the fine estate of Yarrundi, in the district of the Upper Hunter,
belonging to S. Coxen, Esq., who informed me that they periodically pass
through his estate during the months of February and March.
In its actions and manners it is closely allied to the true
_Trichoglossi_ but differs from them in some few particulars, which are
more perceptible in captivity than in a state of nature; it has neither
the musky smell nor the jumping motions of _Trichoglossus concinnus_,
and is much more cleanly in its habits than that species.
Though in its style of colouring and in its more lengthened and slender
tail it is beautifully intermediate between the Grass Parrakeets and the
_Trichoglossi_, still I have never observed it to alight upon the
ground, or elsewhere than among the branches, and it undoubtedly must be
placed with the latter group.
The sexes are very similar in colour, but the female may always be
distinguished from her mate by being much smaller in size and less
brilliant in all her markings. The young at an early age assume the
plumage of the adult, after which they undergo no change.
Face scarlet, with a spot of yellow at the gape; crown of the head deep
blue; all the upper and under surface green, the latter being somewhat
the lightest; shoulders, under wing- and under tail-coverts scarlet;
secondaries and wing-coverts bluish green; primaries deep blackish blue,
finely margined with yellow; tail deep blue, tinged with red, passing
into black at the extremity; irides rich hazel-yellow; feet flesh-brown;
bill horn-colour.
The figures are of the natural size.
[Illustration: