ECLECTUS RIEDELI, meyer.

Riedel’s Parrot.

fclectus riedeli, Meyer, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1881, p. 917.—Id. Verh. zool.-bot. Gesellsch. Wien, 1881, p. 772.—
Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov. xviii. p. 419 (1882).—Id. Orn. Papuasia, etc. iii, App. p. 517
(1882).—Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1883, pp. 53, 195, pl. xxvi.

 

 

 

Tuis interesting bird was sent first from Timor Laut by Mr. Riedel, recently Dutch resident at Amboina, to
Dr. Meyer at Dresden, by whom it was named after the discoverer. Like all the green and red Parrots, the |
usual differences of the sexes is observed, the male being green and the female red. Only the latter was |
obtained by Mr. Riedel; and for our knowledge of the male we are indebted to our energetic countryman
Mr. H. O. Forbes, who brought back four specimens of this species from Timor Laut. We must confess,

however, that we believe that the name of L. riedei will be found to have been superseded by that
of E. westermanni of Bonaparte. The specimen in the British Museum of the latter bird does not, it is true,

 

show the red flank-spot of the adult Z. riedeli; but there are traces of it, and we believe that the specimen
in question has had the development of its full plumage arrested by having been kept in confinement.

The female of L. riedeli resembles EL. cornelia in not having any blue on the under surface ; but EL. cornelia
is a much larger bird, and has red under tail-coverts and no yellow tips to the tail.

Adult male. General colour above bright grass-green, inclining to emerald-green on the head and mantle ;
wing-coverts like the back, the least series emerald-green, with a patch of cobalt-blue near the bend of
the wing and round the edge of it; bastard wing deep blue; primary.coverts green, washed with
cobalt ; quills deep blue, blackish on the inner web, lighter blue along the outer one ; secondaries more or

 

less green externally, the innermost entirely green; rump and upper tail-coverts washed with emerald -
green; tail-feathers green, with a broad band of yellow at the end, before which is a slight shade of blue on
the outer feathers ; lores and entire sides of face, cheeks, ear-coverts, and feathered portion of throat
emerald-green ; remainder of under surface of body grass-green, washed with yellow on the under tail-coverts ;
a large patch of deep scarlet on the sides of the body, the axillaries and under wing-coverts being of this
colour; edge of wing light cobalt or verditer blue; greater series of under wing-coverts and quills below
black ; “upper mandible scarlet, fading into orange; lower mandible black; legs and feet lavender ; iris
pale orange” (HZ. O. Forées). Total length 13 inches, culmen 1-8, wing 8°8, tail 4°5, tarsus 0°6.

Adult female. General colour above red, the base of the feathers dull brown or greenish; wing-coverts a
little darker than the back; edge of wing and bastard wing blue, with a slight shade of green near the base
of the feathers; primary-coverts and quills deep blue, blackish on the inner web and shaded with lighter
blue on the outer; secondaries externally red, the innermost entirely like the back; tail-feathers red,
greenish towards the bases, and broadly banded with yellow across the tip; head all round, neck, and mantle
brighter scarlet than the back ; remainder of under surface of body from the fore neck, downwards deep
red, the lower flanks and thighs washed with yellow; under tail-coverts yellow ; axillaries and under wing-
coverts deep red, the latter with dusky or purplish-blue bases; greater series of under wing-coverts and
quills below black; “bill black; legs and feet greyish black; iris pale yellow” (/Z. O. Forbes). Total
length 12 inches, culmen 1°55, wing 81, tail 4°5, tarsus 0-6.

The Plate represents a pair of birds of about the natural size, drawn from specimens procured by

Mr. Forbes in Timor Laut.

 

 

[R. B. S.J