CHARMOSYNA MARGARITA, Tristr.

Duchess of Connaught’s Parrakeet.

Charmosyna margarethe, Tristram, Ibis, 1879, p. 442, pl. xii.

Charmosynopsis margarite, Salvad. Orn. Papuasia, i. p. 319 (1880).—Id. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genoy. xviii. p. 419
(1882).—Id. Orn. Papuasia, etc. i. App. p. 520 (1882).

Trichoglossus (Charmosyna) margarithe, Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. 8. W. vi. p. 720 (1881).

 

Tuis beautiful little Parrakeet belongs to the subgenus Charmosynopsis of Salvadori, along with C. pulchella,
to which it is allied. It differs from the latter bird, however, in many particulars, in the yellow
collar round the hind neck, and in the broad yellow band on the chest, which takes the place of the yellow
streaks in C. pulchella. In the latter species also there is no purplish-black band across the breast as there
is in C. margarite.

The present bird, named by Canon Tristram in honour of H.R.H. the Duchess of Connaught, was
discovered in the Solomon Islands by Lieut. Richards, R.N., and Mr. Ramsay has likewise received
specimens from the same Archipelago. He has very kindly lent us a pair of birds from the island of Ugi,
the one with the red on the sides of the rump being marked “ male” and the yellow-sided bird ‘ female.”

The following is a description of the specimens lent to us by Mr. Ramsay :—

Adult male. General colour above bright grass-green, the rump and upper tail-coverts washed with golden ;
sides of the lower back crimson; wing-coverts green, like the back; primary-coverts and quills black,
externally green like the back ; tail-feathers crimson slightly tipped with yellow, which increases into a large
terminal mark on all the other feathers, which have black shafts, and an inner broad margin of black and a
narrower external one of grass-green; forehead and sinciput crimson, separated by a broad bar of deep
purplish black on the vertex from the occiput and hinder neck, which are also crimson, and are succeeded
by a narrow band of purplish black, followed by a somewhat broader one of orange-yellow, which divide the
green back from the crimson neck; lores, sides of face, cheeks, ear-coverts, sides of neck, and entire throat
crimson, followed by a narrow band of purplish black, which is succeeded by a broad band of orange-
yellow, both these bands being continuous with the similarly coloured bands round the hind neck; remainder
of under surface of body crimson, with a band of purplish black across the breast ; thighs and basal under
tail-coverts crimson, the longer under tail-coverts grass-green; axillaries and under wing-coverts
crimson; edge of wing grass-green, Total length 7°5 inches, culmen 0:7, wing 4°25, tail 3°25, tarsus 0-4.

The female exactly resembles the male, bat has less tinge of golden on the rump, and is further
distinguished by the sides of the lower back being orange-yellow, with crimson tips to a few of the feathers.
Total length 7°6 inches, culmen 0°65, wing 4:1, tail 3°5, tarsus 0-4.

The figures in the Plate are taken from the pair of birds mentioned above as lent to us by Mr. Ramsay :
they represent the male and female of about the size of life.

[R. B. S.]