CHARMOSYNA JOSEPHIN.

Josephina Parrakeet.

Trichoglossus josephine, Finsch, Atti R. Accad. Torino, 1872, p. 42, tav. 7.—Meyer, J. f. O. 1874, p. 56.

 

Tue Josephina Parrakeet was first described by Dr. Otto Finsch, from a specimen preserved in the
collection of Count Turati at Milan. By the latter gentleman it was obtained from M. Laurent de
Gréaux, a natural-history dealer in Marseilles, having been originally purchased by him in London, along
with two specimens of the rare Pséttacula gulielni HI. Dr. Finsch rightly concluded that the habitat
of this beautiful species would prove to be the island of New Guinea; for he found in the Bremen Museum
some native head-dresses of plumes composed of the tail-feathers of this Parrakeet and of C. papuensis,
which Von Rosenberg assured him were worn by the inhabitants in the interior of the island. None
of the Dutch collectors managed to obtain specimens for the Leiden Museum; and it is to Dr. Meyer that
we are indebted for our authentic information respecting it. He obtained specimens during his last voyage,
and he was thereby enabled to determine that the species had been founded by Dr. Finsch on a female bird ;
Dr. Meyer was therefore the first to discover the male. I am indebted to him not only for the loan of
the specimens which I now figure, but also for the following note on the species :—‘‘ I found this bird on
my voyage to New Guinea in June 1873, on the west coast of Geelvink Bay, where it was seen near the
sea-shore in large flocks; but in no other spot, during my residence in the island, did I meet with it. The
nearly allied C. papuensis has, up to the present, only been found far in the mountainous districts of New
Guinea; and perhaps this smaller species represents it in the lowlands. Young birds have the breast
undulated with blackish and green; and in some females the black of the belly is strongly mixed with olive
green. In life the bill, feet, and irides are deep orange-red, the claws and the naked part round the eye
greyish black. In the stomach I only found juice of plants.”

Dr. Finsch thus describes the female :—

“Head, neck, and under surface of body fine crimson-red ; an occipital spot obscure bluish lilac,
posteriorly surrounded with a black band. Back and wings green. Belly and thighs black, with a violet
lustre. Rump and flanks yellow. Two centre tail-feathers red; the rest green, with the inner webs red,
the tips yellow, preceded by an obscure subterminal mark of bluish.”

The male differs from the female in being red on the rump, where the latter is yellow.

I have figured a male and female on the accompanying Plate, of about the natural size. In general size
this species is rather smaller than C. papuensis, and has a coarser and stronger bill, while the long tail-
feathers are stiffer and less flexible.

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