Psittacus larvatus, Ess.; seu Psittacus personatus, Gr.

The Masked Parrakeet (Ger., Maskensittich, schwarzmaskirter Plattschweifsittich; Fr., Perruche a masque noire, Perroquet masque', Coracopse noir; Dut., Masker Parkiet) - Costliness and Rarity - Physical Characteristics - Habitat - In Captivity - Talent for Speech.

The most stately of all the Platycerci, this is more rare, perhaps, than the Shining Parrakeet, and therefore the more costly.

It is black on the forehead, front of the head, round the eye, and the lower mandible, so that the face appears as if covered by a mask; the whole of the upper part of the body is dark grass-green; the primaries are blue, blackish on the inner web; the secondaries are green, the inner web edged with black; all the quills black on the reverse side; all the upper wing-coverts, and the bend of the wing, blue; the largest under wing-coverts black; the tail edged with black on the inner web and wholly black on the reverse side; the throat, sides, thighs, and under tail-coverts green; the front of the throat and breast deep yellow; the front part of the belly darker yellow; the hinder part of the belly orange-yellow; the beak black; eyes orange-red; the feet and claws black. It is fully the size of a crow (length, 18 1/8in. to 18 7/8in.; wings, 8 3/8in. to 9 1/4in.; central feathers of the tail, 8 3/8in. to 9 1/8in.; outermost tail feathers, 4 7/8in. to 5 5/8in.).

The Fiji Islands are its home, and there, accordingly, are found the largest and most beautiful of the Platycerci - the Red Shining and the Masked Parrakeet. It is said to inhabit only some of the islands. Graffe states that he saw the Masked Parrakeet in company with the Red Shining Parrakeet in the mangrove bushes, in the swamp along the shores of the rivers, where they agreeably enlivened a scene otherwise devoid of animal life.

In the year 1848, G. E. Gray described it from a live bird in a menagerie, but until Peale gave an account of it, the ornithologists (for instance, Schlegel) were much in error as to this variety. They took it to be the female or the young of one of the other Shining Parrakeets. We have no further details of its life in captivity. The zoological gardens show it even more rarely than the species before described, and only the very best private collections contain a specimen. Messrs. Wiener, of London, Scheuba, of Olmutz, and Baron Comely in the Castle of Beaujardin, near Tours, lately announced that they have each a Masked Parrakeet. In the aviary of the last-named it keeps in excellent health at a temperature of 8deg. C. I have seen specimens of this Parrakeet on several occasions in the menagerie of the dealer, Mr. Karl Hagenbeck, and in the wholesale shop of Miss Hagenbeck. In the latter collection I heard it speak loudly and clearly; with this qualification, these birds appear more valuable than many others.