Psittacus Barnardi. Synonyms: Platycercus Barnardi; Barnardius typicus etc.

FRench: Perruche de Barnard.

German: Barnard's Sittich.

AUTHORS are pretty well agreed in bestowing upon this handsome Broadtail the specific name of Barnard, from a French naturalist of repute towards the close of the last century; Prince C. Bonaparte alone departing from the example of other writers by naming the bird in question Barnardius typicus, or the typical Barnard. It is even more scarce than Bauer, from which a glance at the plate will show the reader that it differs considerably; especially in having a deep crimson frontlet.

It is about the size of the last named bird, and equally hardy, but more amiable and engaging; it is also even of less frequent occurrence in captivity than Bauer's Parrakeet, and is consequently dearer; nor is there any instance on record, that the writer is aware of, of its having as yet re-produced itself in confinement.

The female is very like her mate, but her colours are much less bright than his, and she is perceptibly smaller.

None of the Broadtails make good talkers, and Barnard is no exception to this rule. Occasionally a male reared from the nest will learn to say, in a very small voice, a simple word or two, but generally his linguistic attainments are confined to the repetition of the word "Joey;" he very rarely reaching such an advanced standard of education as to say "Pretty Joey," though one such instance is on record; but the bird in question must have been exceptionally intelligent, and one cannot expect to meet with such a phenomenon every day; but they learn to whistle very prettily.

This Parrakeet is believed to feed, at least partially, on white ants but appears nevertheless to do very well indeed without any such delicacies in captivity; though possibly the fact that it has not yet nested in confinement, may be owing to the insufficiently stimulating nature of its enforced seed diet, and the connoisseur who is desirous of having aviary-bred Barnards in his collection would do well to try the effect of adding daily a few meal-worms, or a small handful of scoured gentles, or their pupae, to the bill of fare.

In the Colonies this handsome bird is known by the name of the Bulla Bulla Parrakeet; why, it would be difficult to say, for it has little of the melodious vocalisation and imitative powers of the Lyre Bird (Menura superba), to which the natives of Australia have allotted the same designation.

There are few sights prettier than a large aviary well supplied with branches and a turfed floor and inhabited by a collection of Australian Broadtails, of which there are many species, nearly all of which are about the same size; the exceptions being the Pennant, Adelaide, Rosella, and Stanley. The two first are considerably larger than the species under consideration, while the Rosella, and especially the Stanley are smaller; the latter, indeed, not being much bigger than the Elegant Grass Parrakeet.

All the. Broadtails get on very well together, and in fact some of the so-called species are only local varieties of each other; thus the Pennant and Adelaide Broadtails are very closely connected, and the same may be said of the Rosella and the Palliceps, commonly called the Mealy Rosella; while, notwithstanding the great difference in size, we believe Stanley's Parrakeet to be a very near relation indeed of Platycercus eximius, the Rosella, or Rosehill Parrakeet.

Be that as it may, there is no doubt that Eximius and Palliceps have paired together in captivity, and produced fertile young ones that have had others equally capable of reproduction, and combining in their own persons the colours and markings of their parents, which they transmitted unchanged to their own progeny; thus, in our opinion at all events, establishing beyond possibility of dispute the generic identity of the two varieties.

Whether it would be possible to perpetuate this new variety, or whether, as in the case of the Golden and Amherst Pheasants; the progeny of successive generations would revert to one or other of the progenitorial types, and not continue the mixture of the two species, remains to be proved; but analogy would lead one to suppose that the former supposition would be the more likely of the two to be correct; unity and not confusion, being without question, the order of the day in nature; notwithstanding all that has been said about accidental variation and natural selection.

But we are wandering from our Barnards, which, on the whole, we consider preferable, as inmates of the aviary, to Bauer's Parrakeets, though they are not more fitted than the latter for cage life; and should never be immured within the narrow limits of even the very largest cage that could be provided for their use indoors, in which they certainly would never attempt to breed; whatever chance there might be of their doing so in a large well-furnished aviary out of doors.

The Western Aviary at the Zoological Gardens, in the Regent's Park, is our beau ideal of what a Parrot aviary should be; but instead of dividing it into so many compartments, we should only make three; placing in the middle the larger species, the medium sized occupying one wing, and the pigmy parrots, such as the different species of love-birds, the third. It might be a noisy collection, but it would be a most interesting and delightful one; the only drawback, that it would be impossible to have any living plants in it: grass, however, would be possible, and, if renewed every season, a great improvement; but there should be an abundance of logs of wood, dead trees in fact with all their branches on; and in these, many of the prisoners would excavate themselves nests. Other nesting boxes, or rather logs, should of course be provided, and we are convinced that such an institution would, not only be quite self supporting, but actually pay well by the sale of the young stock that would certainly be obtained in such a place.

With the exception of the Lories, all Parrots are seed-eaters, and give very little trouble indeed in the matter of food, but a stream of water should be contrived to percolate through the aviary, and a rockery or two would add materially to its attractions.

The sparsely timbered forests of South Western Australia form the chief habitat of this species, which is not numerous, even there, and is consequently but seldom captured and imported, which is a fact to be deplored by connoisseurs; who, if they could obtain Barnard's at a more reasonable figure might not only breed them freely in their aviaries, but cross the three species, Bauer's, Barnard's, and the Australian Ring-neck; and determine, once for all, whether these birds were really three distinct species, or only local varieties of one.

If the cross-bred progeny proved to be capable of reproduction, the latter hypothesis would be established, but on the contrary if they were sterile, it would be proved beyond a doubt, that the birds were distinct. While the price, however, remains as high as it is, this desirable consummation is not likely to be reached, and now that aviarists have lost one of their best friends, by the untimely death of Mr. A. H. Jamrach, who did so much to popularise the fancy for foreign birds, by bringing down the almost prohibitive prices of other dealers to more reasonable figures, as well as by the importation of new species and varieties, the solution of this and kindred problems is further off than ever.

Barnard's Parrakeet is also occasionally called the Falcon-breasted Parrakeet, and its designation of Bulla Bulla has also been applied to the Yellow-collared Broadtail, which is known to the colonists of Western Australia by the name of "Twenty-eight" Parrot, from the fancied resemblance of its cry to those words.