TAB. IV.
PSITTACUS MELANOCEPHALUS.
C H A R A C T E R GENERICUS.
Roitnim aduncum; mandíbula fuperiore mobili, cera inftruéìa.
Nares in roftri bali.
Lingua carnofa, obtufa, integra.
Pedes fcanforii. LIN. SYST. NAT. p. 139.
C H A R A C T E R SPECIFICUS, &c.
Pfittacus brachyurus viridis, fubtus luteus, pileo nigro, peélore albo, orbiüs incarnatis.
L I N . SYST. N A T . p. 149.
Pfittacus Mexicanus, peSore albo. . BRISS. AV. 4. p. 297.
G E N E R I C CHARACTER.
Bill hooked; the upper mandible moveable, furnifhed with a cere.
Nojtrils in the bafe of the bill.
Feet formed for climbing.
S P E C I F I C CHARACTER, &c.
Short-tailed green Parrot, yellow beneath, the top of the head black, the breaft white, the
orbits flefli-coloured.
White-breafted Parrot. EDW. 4. p. i6g.
Maipouri. BUFF. Oi s . 6. p. 250.
THIS bird is a variety of the Pfittacus Melanocephalus of Linnaeus; and is well figured in
Edwards's Hiftory of Birds, at plate 169. It is about the fize of a turtle; it fometimes varies
in colour. The vertex is black; and an oblong green mark is generally feen on each fide the
head beneath the eyes: the cheeks, throat, and fore-part of the neck, are yellow; the hindpart
of the neck orange, which in fome fpecimens is of a pale crimfon, or rofe-colour. The
back, rump, fcapulars, and tail-coverts, are green; the breaft and upper part of the belly white.
The greater quills are blue on the outer edges. The legs afli-coloured-brown; the bill and
rare dufky fleili-colour, (but, in the variety here figured, black.) In fome fpecimens the belly
IS rather afli-coloured than white: the fides of the body and thighs are frequently of a yellowilh
brown. This fpecies inhabits Mexico, and the Curaccas in South America. It is commonly
found m woods, and feldom approaches inhabited places. It is faid to be of a peculiarly ftubborn
and obftinate nature; tamed with great difficulty, and veiy quarrelfome. It is of a thicker
and gi-ofler form than mofl: other parrots, and, infl:ead of the lively loquacity and vivid difpofition
fo prevalent in the reft of its genus, exhibits only a morofe heavinefs and unvaried dulnefs.