PSITTACUS GALGULUS: viridis, uropygio pectoreque coccineis, vertice (maris) cæruleo.—_Linn. Amoen. ac. 4. p. 286._—_Mus. Ad. Fr. ii. p. 16._—_Osbeck. it. 101._ PSITTACUS GALGULUS: viridis, uropygio pectoreque coccineis, vertice cæruleo, lunula cervicis lutea, tectricibus caudæ rubris.—_Lath. Ind. Orn. T. 1. 148. p. 131._ Perruche à tête bleue. _Buff. hist. nat. des. ois. 6. p. 163._ Petite perruche de Pérou. _Buff. pl. enlum. n. 190. f. 2._ Petite perruche de l’isle de Luçon. _Sonner, it. p. 76. t. 33._ Sapphire-Crowned Parrakeet. _Edw. glean. t. 293. f. 2._ * * * * * This gay little creature is one of the smaller kind of the Psittacus or Parrot tribe, and of that family which is distinguished by having the tail short and equal at the end. Its size is rather less than that of our common house sparrow. The prevailing colour of the plumage a rich vernal green, deepest in its hues on the back and wings, and rather paler or more delicate in its tint beneath; the breast and rump scarlet; the feathers of the latter elongated and extending far over the tail, which is green; the crown of the head a beautiful Sapphirine blue. This appears to be the male bird. That which is considered as the female has a yellow spot upon the throat: it is destitute of any scarlet spot upon the breast, and the Sapphirine colour on the crown of the head is also wanting. These are the characteristic distinctions observable generally in the species; besides which there are other less material particulars in which these birds are known to differ. In some birds we find a yellow transverse stripe on the hind part of the neck, varying in colour from luteous to orange, and which is more or less conspicuous in different individuals. Others have a somewhat similar band of yellow, but which is situated at the back of the head instead of the neck. The first of these is distinguished by the name of the Sapphire Crowned Parrakeet, the other by that of the Phillippine Parrakeet. Dr. Latham has endeavoured to establish the characteristic distinctions of these two kinds in his _Index Ornithologicus_: he considers them as permanent varieties, but we must confess we regard them rather as accidental than permanent. The characteristic band of yellow by which they are to be discriminated chiefly, appears to be more or less developed in different birds at different periods of their growth; and in the absence of this character from the back of the head in the Phillippine Parrakeet, or the hind part of the neck in the Sapphire Crowned Parrakeet, the resemblance is so very near as to afford no certain means of distinguishing one from the other.