Zoological Illustrations/VolI-Pl1
PSITTACUS Cayennensis.
Cayenne gold-winged Parakeet.
Generic Character.
- Rostrum breve, crassum, validissimum, ad basin cute tectum; mandibulâ superiore aduncâ; inferiore sub-recurvatâ, breviore. Nares rotundæ, nudæ, fermè verticales. Pedes scansorii.
- Bill short, thick, very strong, covered at the base by a cere; upper mandible sharply hooked; under mandible obtuse, curving upwards, and much shorter. Nostrils round, naked, nearly vertical. Feet scansorial.
Specific Character.
- P. viridis, alis spuriis aurantiis, remigibus exterioribus basi cæruleis, caudâ brevi cuneatâ.
- Green Parakeet, with the spurious wings golden-orange: outer quills blue at their base. Tail short, wedged.
- Le Perruche à tache souci. Le Vaill. pl. 58, 59. p. 169.
We only thoroughly identified this beautiful little bird, by an inspection of the costly work of Le Vaillant on this family, in the Banksian Library: for the description of the orange-winged Parakeet of Dr. Latham is not applicable; and Dr. Shaw has persisted in the old error of considering this species a variety of the Toui Parakeet, although the question had been put at rest by the original description and sound reasons of Le Vaillant. There is a wide difference between naturalists who compile, and form their theories from books, and those who study nature, and think for themselves; and nothing will result from the first but mischief to the science, and perplexity to the student.
Our figure is from a specimen brought from Demerara by C. Edmonston, Esq.; another is in the possession of A. MacLeay, Esq. Though rare in our cabinets, M. Le Vaillant says it is common in Cayenne. He has given a beautiful figure of the female, which is entirely green.
Total length six inches. Plumage above entirely green, beneath paler and inclining to yellow; just under the lower mandible is a small snuff-coloured spot, and a very narrow line of the same in front just above the nostrils; the quills dark-green, the greater ones on their outside base are blue, with which the head is also tinged. The spurious wings are entirely of a rich and clear orange. Inner wing-covers green. Quills inside greenish-blue, except on each side the shafts, where there is a line of black. Tail short, cuneated, hardly projecting an inch beyond the wings, both above and below green: the interior margin dirty-yellow, the feathers pointed. Bill and legs flesh-colour.