It is a source of much regret to me, that I am unable to give more than
a very slight notice of the beautiful bird that forms the subject of the
present Plate. The single specimen from which my description was taken
came into my possession in 1840, unfortunately without any other
information accompanying it than that it was a native of Swan River;
from that period no other example occurred until 1845, when several fine
specimens were transmitted to me by the late Mr. Johnson Drummond, who
had killed them near Moore’s River in Western Australia, and from whom I
should doubtless have received some particulars respecting the habits of
this lovely species, had he not been treacherously murdered by a native
in his company, while engaged in seeking for materials for this and my
other works on the Fauna of Australia.
The Splendid Grass Parrakeet is in every respect a true _Euphema_, and
has many characters in common with the _E. pulchella_, but differs from
that species in the entire absence of the chestnut mark on the
shoulders, in the more intense blue of the face, and in the gorgeously
rich scarlet colouring of the chest; and is rendered remarkably
conspicuous by the brilliant display of the three primitive
colours—blue, red and yellow—on its face, breast and abdomen.
The male has the face and ear-coverts deep indigo-blue, becoming paler
on the latter; all the upper surface grass-green; upper wing-coverts
beautiful lazuline blue; under wing-coverts deep indigo-blue; primaries
and secondaries black; the first three or four primaries slightly
margined with green; two centre tail-feathers dark green; the remaining
tail-feathers black on the internal webs, green on the external webs and
largely tipped with bright yellow, which increases in extent as the
feathers recede from the centre; chest rich deep scarlet; under surface
yellow, passing into green on the sides of the chest and flanks.
The female differs in having the face and wing-coverts, both above and
beneath, of a pale lazuline blue, and in the chest being green instead
of scarlet.
The Plate represents two males and a female on a branch of _Beaufortia
decussata_, one of the plants of Western Australia.
[Illustration:
EUPHEMA BOURKII.
_J. & E. Gould del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
EUPHEMA BOURKII.
Bourke’s Grass-Parrakeet.
_Nanodes Bourkii_, Mitch. Australian Expeditions, vol. i. p. xviii.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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