J.GouULtWMart dd.ebUth.
PSITTACELLA BREHMII, Rosenberg.
Brehm’s Parrot.
Psittacus brehmii, Ros. in lit., Schlegel, Obs. Zool. v., Ned. Tijdschr. voor de Dierk. iv. p. 35,1873, ? (nec d).
Psittacella brehmii (Ros.), A. B. Meyer, Cab. Journ. f. Orn. Jan. 1874, and Sitzungsber. der k.-k. Akad. de Wiss.
zu Wien. Ixix. p. 74, Febr. 1874—T. Salvadori, Ann. del Mus. Civ. di.St. Nat. di Genova, vii. p. 755,
1875. ’ 1 ’
W h e n one has to deal with a species o f P a rro t so different from all others that have yet been discovered,
there can be no difficulty with regard to synonymy, o r need for many remarks on the differences between
it and others.
T h e native country o f this Parro t is the northern part o f New Guinea, where i t was first collected by
Baron Rosen b erg ; but, if I rightly understand the sense o f a letter to me from Dr. Meyer, Rosenberg
only discovered the female, while he himself was fortunate enough to obtain both sex es:— “ I procured
within a few days five specimens, all in the same locality, two o f which were males, and three females.
T he back o f the male is similar fo the same p a rt in the female; but the plumage o f the breast and flanks,
instead o f being crossed with crescentic bars, is uniform g re e n ; it is also the male alone that possesses
the beautiful semicollar of bright yellow, an ornament which adds greatly to the beauty o f this sex.”
The male has the head, cheeks, and throat dark olive-brown; on the sides of the neck below the
dark colouring o f the cheek and throat brilliant jonquil-yellow; back, including the tail-coverts, green,
crossed by narrow bands o f black ; upper p a rt o f the wing and tail bright grass-green; the same bright
green also pervades the whole under surface; under tail-coverts bright sc arlet; on the shoulders both
above and below a patch o f b lu e ; bill bluish horn-colour; feet dark bluish-grey. In the female the
yellow neck-bands and uniform green breast are wanting; in other respects she is similarly coloured.
Total length 81 in ch e s; wings 3 i, tail 2 i, tarsi 1, bill I.
T he figures are o f the natural size.
Had. Northern portions of New Guinea.