Young.—Differs from the adult in having little or no blue on the head and face which are green; back largely sky-blue; blue of wings and coverts largely replaced by green; the coverts bordered with light yellowish green.
“The Philippine green parrot is the common cage bird of the natives, who have doubtless aided in its dispersal. Escaped cage birds were shot by us on several occasions. Called ‘picoi’ by the natives. Occurs in deep forest, but is also very common in the open, especially about dead trees, where it nests in natural cavities or in deserted holes of the great woodpeckers (Thriponax).
“Iris of male birds has an outer ring of white and an inner of brown; iris of females light yellow; legs and feet drab, nails black; bill scarlet, yellowish at tip. Fully adult specimens show very great variability as to size, running from 300 to 395. Fourteen males from Tawi Tawi measure 325 in length; wing, 191; tail, 126; culmen, 29; tarsus, 16; middle toe with claw, 29. Two females from Masbate measure, length, 311; wing, 180; tail, 124; culmen, 30; tarsus, 17; middle toe with claw, 35.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
Grant finds some very considerable differences among specimens of this species from various islands but evidently he considers them to be of less than even subspecific value. Possibly this species will eventually be split into several subspecies or races.
243. TANYGNATHUS MEGALORHYNCHOS (Boddaert).
LARGE-BILLED PARROT.
- Psittacus megalorhynchos Boddaert, Tabl. Pl. Enl. (1783), 45.
- Tanygnathus megalorhynchus Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1891), 20, 426; Sharpe, Hand-List (1900), 2, 30.
Balut (Mearns). Western New Guinea, Papuan and Molucca Islands, Sangi, Talaut, and Togian Islands.
“Adult.—Green, underneath yellowish green; sides yellow; feathers of the interscapular region green, edged with light blue; lower back and uropygium light blue; scapulars black, edged with blue; quills and greater upper wing-coverts blue, edged with green; smaller and median upper wing-coverts black, the last edged with bright yellow; under wing-coverts and axillars yellow; tail above green, with yellow tip, underneath golden yellow, duller towards the base. ‘Iris yellowish, with an outer ring white; bill coral-red; feet lead-color.’ (D’Albertis.) Length, 432; wing, 238 to 254; tail, 150 to 160; bill, 45 to 51; tarsus, 21.
“Female.—Has the bill smaller than the male.