"FL AT Y C E R C W B R O WN IL Vig. and H orsf.
Brown’s Pàrrakeet.
Psittacus Broionii, T e inm .,in -Lin n . T r a n s ., 119.
Psittacusvenustus, Kuhl, Njm*
Proton’s, P a r r o t , Hist., voLfiil p. l39j
Platycercus Brownii, Vig. and^EToM^^^jmt Trans.. vo1. xy. p . 282.—Lear’s 111. Psitt., p i. 20.
Moon-dark ? Aborigines, of" Port Essington.
Smutty Parrot, Residents at ditto.
T his is a .very-abundant spepies on the northern and north-western coast of Australia, inhabiting grassy
meadow-like land and the edgesvo£swamps,. mostly feediug on the ground upoipjm seeds of grasses and other
plants, sometimes single1 or in pairs, but more frequently in families o f from ten to twenty in number. It
frequently utters a rapid succession of. double notes resembling | trin-se trin-se.’ Its Right is low, somewhat
rapid and zigzag, seldom Tarther prolonged than from tree to tree. Specimens of this bird given me by my
friends Captain Grey and Mr. Bynoe from the north-west coast differ somewhat in plumage from those killed
on the Cobourg Peninsula, the concentric bands on the breast are much finer, the extreme' margins only
of the feathers being black ; I have one specimen also with the whole of the crown of the head of a deep
blood-red, and others with n^o^e or less of this colour. That this kind^of plumage is unusual is proved by
the fact of numerous specimens from Port Essington not exhibittn^i|, and had I not séen others from the
north-west with black crowns ? ^® t :th% exception of the band across the forehead), I should have regarded
as specifietwbat I now look upon as a mere lôcaI;variety, br^^M|ibly a very q ld||irvd. '
Thisbeahjjful species has been named after Dr.' Rç^^PBrbwn, as a jüsi trrbutetof respect for the high
reputation he has attained ass a scientific botanist.
of the head* loresfaqpl ear-çovërts deep black; cheeks snow-white, bounded below with blue ;
breast and rump pale yellow, each feather slightly fringed with black ; feathers of the Back deep black, with
a broad margin of paleFyellow; wing-coverts, outer webs of the secondaries and base of the primaries rich
îblne,innër webs pf the primaries ancLsecondaries deep black; under tail-coverts scarlet; centre tail-feathers
green at the base, passing into blue on themargins.and a t the tip ; lateral feathers deep blue at the base of
the. outer webs, brown at the basé of the inner webs, and then pale blue terminating in white, with black
shafts ; irides blackish brown ; bill light horn-colour, passing into blue at the base ; legs andfeet blackish
'brown.
Young ffirds are similar in colour, fell- i i i ! Jfl the markings dull and indistinct ; as the individual
approaches to maturity the breast becomes ornamented with a number of crescent-shaped markings-Of black
and pale yellow, and as the bird advances in age the yejlow increases in extent and the black nearly
disappears.
The three figures in the Plate represent two males and a female ; the crimson-headed bird drawn from a
specimen collected on the north-west coast, and1 the other ma)e |rpin; 6ne procured at Port Essington ; they
are all of the natural size.