Zoological Illustrations Series II/Plate 1
Sapphire crowned Parrot
fem.
PSITTACULUS vernalis.
Vernal Parrakeet.
Family Psittacidæ.—Vigors.
Genus Psittaculus.—(Lesson. Man. 2. p. 148.)
Specific Character.
Green, with the head more splendid; bill red; rump and upper tail covers scarlet; spot on the throat orange.
Psittacus vernalis. Sparman Mus. Carl. Pl. 29.
Psittacula vernalis. Gen. Zool. 14. p. 144.
The Vernal Parrakeet has hitherto remained unfigured, except in the scarce and little known work of Sparman: nor was its native country ascertained, until recent travellers discovered it in the islands of Java and Teinor.
This is one of the smallest of parrots, scarcely exceeding five inches in length; the feathers of the head have a silky texture, and their colour, in some lights, is particularly vivid: the tail and the wings are green above, but of a rich deep blue beneath; a character said to be equally conspicuous in P. galgulus L. The spot on the throat, in our specimen, is orange.
In respect to the situation of this bird among its congeners, we retain it, provisionally, in the genus Psittacula of Brisson & Kuhl, adopting the termination used by M. Spix, to avoid the alteration of specific names. We have not yet had leisure to study the new divisions made in this family, with that attention they deserve; but it strikes us, as a defect in the genus Psittaculus, that it unites birds of the Old and the New World in one group. Except in their size, no two parrots can be more dissimilar in construction than the Indian P. vernalis, and the American P. passerinus. In the first, the under mandible is smallest, narrow, and rather pointed; the first quill longest; and the tail feathers rounded. In P. passerinus, the under mandible is largest, high, very thick, and quite obtuse; the second quill longest, and the tail feathers acutely pointed. These may be usefully employed as sectional characters, until the contents of the two groups are better understood.