GENERIC CHARACTER.
Bill falcated; upper mandible moveable and in general covered with a cere: nostrils rounded, placed in the base of the bill: tongue fleshy, obtuse, entire: feet formed for climbing.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER
AND
SYNONYMS.
Pale green, back and wings black: secondary wing feathers yellow, at the tip blue: tail purple with a black band.
Psittacus Melanopterus: pallide viridis, dorso alisque nigris, remigibus secundariis luteis apice cæruleis, rectricibus purpureis fascia nigra.—Lath. Ind. Orn. T. 1. p. 132. n. 152.
Psittacus Melanopterus: pallide viridis, dorso, tectricibus alarum, caudæ fascia remigibusque primariis nigris, secundariis flavescentibus cæruleo punctatis.—Gmel. Linn. Syst. Nat. T. 1. p. 350. n. 132.
Perruche aux ailes variées.—Buff. Hist. Nat. des Ois. 6. p. 172.
Petite perruche de Batavia.—Buff. Pl. enlum. n. 791. f. 1.
Petite perruche de l’isle de Luçon.—Sonner. it. p. 78. t. 41.
Black Winged Parrakeet.—Brown Illus. t. 3.
There are few beings of the feathered race more peculiarly distinguished for the splendid gaiety and rich variety of colours with which their plumage is adorned than the parrot race; for however they may differ in size from the magnitude of a kite or hawk, to that of the comparative diminutive thrush or sparrow, they are almost uniformly beautiful in this particular, and exhibit a diversity that is scarcely found in any other tribe. The species we have selected for our present representation is one of the smaller kinds of the family distinguished by the name of Parrakeets. Its total length is about six inches, its form robust or bulky in proportion.
The bill and legs of this bird are usually described as being dusky, in our specimen the bill is rather pale, tinged with brown and greenish, and the legs inclining to flesh colour. The general colour of the head and neck is green, and the same colour prevails on the breast, belly, and thighs. Upon the crown of the head the green assumes a blueish tint, and on the neck appears enlivened with yellowish, the disk of a number of the feathers being of a yellow colour, with the edges brown, so as to present a kind of scolloped appearance. The back and wing coverts are deep black, with a somewhat velvet aspect; the greater quill feathers black. But one of the characters by which it is distinguished chiefly is the remarkable band of yellow, and its contiguous parallel band of blue by which the wings are traversed. This conspicuous band is formed by the secondary quill feathers, which being of a fine yellow, with the ends a lively blue, appear like two distinct bands, and from their gaiety of colouring are admirably relieved by the deep sable hues of the wings and back. In the bird before us the black colour of the back extends nearly to the tail, the ends of the tail coverts only being green. The most singular contrast in the appearance of its plumage arises from the very different colour of the tail: this is of a pale carnation, glossed or changeable to a delicate violet. The tail, with the exception of the two middle feathers, is traversed near the tip with a single broad band of black; the two middle feathers are of the same pale carnation colour as the rest, but rather more inclined to blueish.
The black winged Parrot is described as a native of Batavia and Luzonia. Our specimen we are assured is from the Brazils. We have also very lately had an opportunity of consulting an extensive series of drawings, representing the principal Natural productions of Surinam, made by an Englishman resident upon the spot, for his own amusement, and among those drawings have met with one of the black winged Parrakeet. Upon this authority we have no hesitation in pronouncing it to be a native of Surinam; and indeed it seems to be so well known in that part of the world that it is distinguished among the inhabitants by a peculiar name, it is called by them Ajàlàlero.
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London. Published by E. Donovan & Mess.rs Simpkin & Marshall, Feb. 1, 1823.