A Manual of Philippine BirdsMcGregor, Richard C. (Richard Crittenden)
Science
A Manual of Philippine Birds
McGregor, Richard C. (Richard Crittenden)
Birds -- Philippines
"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.
"Young.--Has the scapulars and the upper wing-coverts not so black and
more greenish, and the yellow edges of the same paler." (Salvadori.)
244. TANYGNATHUS EVERETTI Tweeddale.
BLUE-BACKED PARROT.
Tanygnathus everetti Tweeddale, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (1877),
20, (4), 533; Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1891), 20, 432,
pl. 10; Sharpe, Hand-List (1900), 2, 30; Whitehead, Ibis (1899),
398; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 49.
Luzon (Whitehead); Mindanao (Everett, Steere Exp., Celestino);
Negros (Whitehead); Panay (Steere Exp.).
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