Psittacus Pennanti, Lthm., Russ. Synonyms: Platycercus Pennanti, Vgrs.; Psittacus gloriosus, Shw.;

PENNANT'S PARRAKEET.

Psittacus splendidus, Gr.; Psittacus elegans, Khl.; etc.

German: Pennant's Sittich.

PENNANT'S Parrakeet is a magnificent creature, applied to which the epithets gloriosus and splendidus are scarcely an exaggeration.

It was known to Bechstein, who named it after our countryman, the well-known naturalist Pennant; but in the English translation of the old German's works, it is called "the Purple Parrot" Bechstein considered that "it very much resembles the Sparrow-Hawk", but was in error in supposing that "in the female, which the bird-sellers pass as a different species, under the name of the Palm Tree Parrot, the prevailing colour is greenish yellow", for the sexes are identical in appearance, and can scarcely be accurately differentiated except by internal, and, consequently, post-mortem examination: an experienced eye, however, can generally manage to pick out a pair from among a number of these birds after watching them a short time, for they frequently caress each other; but it is extremely difficult to determine the sex of a given individual seen alone.

The gorgeous colours of this splendid bird, which Mr. Wiener considers, "if anything, too loud to please all tastes", are nevertheless truly magnificent; and as the bird is of considerable size, they show with greater effect than if it were of smaller dimensions. Frequently, when traversing the Australian bush, we have been startled by the sudden dash across our path of a flock of these brilliantly-plumaged creatures, that shone in the bright rays of the sun like a flash of ruby lightning, so thoroughly dazzling the eye, that to shoot them, as they passed, we found to be impossible; for they are swift on the wing, and dashing from the darkness of the timber on one side of the open road, to the gloom of the gum trees on the other, they were gone before one actually had time to realize the fact of their passage before one's face.

Clothed in a robe of the most brilliant scarlet, the Pennant has a patch of bluish grey just under his white beak, the front of the wings and the small wing coverts are of the same colour, the primaries are black, edged outwardly with bluish grey, and the back of the neck, the back, the secondaries, and large wing coverts are black, broadly edged with scarlet, while the long tail is very dark bluish grey, or rather greyish blue; the feet and legs dark slate grey, and the nails black; the eye is dark hazel brown, and is surrounded by a narrow bare line of grey, lightly dotted with black spots.

In size the Pennant is about a third larger than the Cockatiel, but it is not nearly as elegantly shaped a bird as the latter, and not at all deserving of the epithet bestowed upon it by Kuhl and other writers, which, however, has now been definitively adjudged to another species more worthy of being so designated.

The young resemble their parents, but their colours are duller, and they do not assume the adult plumage until they are at least a year old: with the few exceptions mentioned elsewhere, all the Parrot race make their nests in hollow trees, or rather in the hollow boughs of trees, and the Pennant follows, in this respect, the custom of the vast majority of his relations. Although gregarious during the winter and autumn, these birds separate into pairs during the breeding-season, which extends from September to January; during which period two or three broods, of from four to six young ones each, are produced, and the offspring remain with their parents, even while the latter are breeding again, until the following spring, when they set up housekeeping on their own account. Their nests are generally made, as far as scraping a hole in a rotten bough can be termed making a nest, in the branches of the peppermint and stringy-bark trees that are seldom found wanting in an Australian forest, and which particularly abound in the vicinity of Mount Cole, Mount Korong, and other parts of the colony of Victoria.

These birds are very fond of brackish water, and frequent such creeks and water-holes as are moderately salt, both night and morning in great numbers.

Owing to the difficulty of securing a pair, these grand birds are not so frequently bred in our aviaries as, doubtless, they otherwise would be, for they are docile and hardy, and readily accommodate themselves to their altered circumstances, yet are always impatient of interference at the hands of their owners, who must, as much as possible, leave them to themselves if they are wished to breed.

There are many instances recorded of these birds having been successfully bred in this country, and aviary-reared specimens, quite young, and scarce half the size of their parents, have been exhibited at the Crystal Palace Bird-Show, on more than one occasion.

In the aviary the Pennants will be found quiet and peaceable, providing they have room; and as they are eminently gregarious in their wild state, several pairs, providing they really are pairs, may be kept together, and will rarely interfere with each other's domestic arrangements.

It is really a grand sight to see a flock of these birds wheeling round a water-hole in the bright sunshine, or darting across the path, at no great height above the head of the spectator, when the vivid reflection of the feathers on the under surface of their bodies is almost dazzling in its brilliancy.

In their native wilds these birds feed chiefly on the seeds of grass and other indigenous plants, but they also eat such berries as they can find, the young shoots of growing shrubs, and a good many insects of different kinds, but especially coleoptera which there abound: in the house, however, they will do very well without animal food: in fact, better without than with: except, perhaps, when they have young ones; then, a few mealworms or cockroaches may be occasionally exhibited: in a large aviary, however, there is generally a supply of insects to be found sufficient to keep the inhabitants in health, unless these should belong to the soft-billed tribes.

It is, perhaps, scarcely necessary to repeat that the Pennant, like most of its congeners, is to be fed on a diet of seeds, such as canary, hemp, millet, oats, and maize, with plenty of grass and green food, also woody fibre, without which they will not thrive, so that an abundance of logs in various stages of disintegration must be supplied for their benefit.

This Parrot is rather slow of growth, taking quite a year to reach its full size; it is long-lived, and, as we have said, healthy and hardy: in fact we know of no complaint to which it can be said to be subject: a female, now and then, becomes egg-bound, or an individual kept in a cage and dieted exclusively on hard seed, becomes constipated and has fits: but judiciously fed and managed, it is as enduring as any bird with which we are acquainted.

The price varies, but seldom falls below twenty-five or thirty shillings each, but they are not nearly so frequently seen in this country as, from their many good qualities, one might naturally expect.

The male has quite a musical voice, and if he screams rather loudly at times, his cries are not nearly so ear-piercing as those of many of his relations; in fact, when he is coming, his "cooing", or warbling, might almost be called a song, and when heard for the first time amid the noolday silence of an Australian forest, it makes on the hearer an agreeable impression that does not soon wear off.

We bare beard of talking Pennants, but never actually met with one that spoke articulately; but we make no doubt, for the bird is exceedingly intelligent, that if taken in band when a nestling, and properly taught, it might be made to, not only whistle, but speak.

Like most of the Australian Platycerci, the Pennants are fond of a little insect food now and then, but in captivity they will do very well without it, and will rear their progeny on boiled maize and oats, with canary, millet and hemp seed, and a piece of stale bread soaked in cold water; a lump of rock-salt should always be within their reach.

The Hon. And Rev. F. G. Dutton's Account Of Pennant's Parrakeet (Platycercus Pennanti)

I do not know that I have anything worth adding to that which is already known about these birds. Their extreme beauty and pleasant note must always make them desirable cage birds. Their only draw-back in their shyness, I have not found it possible to overcome this in birds once shy. But I have seen very tame specimens; only when they were, they were apt to be spiteful at the same time.

It is a pity that our Australian cousins do not take the same pains with Pennant's Parrakeets that the Germans do with Bullfinches: I should think that with the same pains they would learn a great deal more, and might learn one or two tunes easily. I have never heard one talk, but if taken young from the nest, they would no doubt learn if taught with method.

Pennant's Parrakeet is described by Bechstein under the head of the "Purple Parrot"