Australian ringneck parakeet,
Platycercus zonarius zonarius (Shaw,
1805) Psittacidae
(Alecto Facsimile Edition - Plate 20)

BAU22

$750.00

22. Port Lincoln Parrot or Australian Ringneck. Barnardius zonarius zonarius (Shaw, 1805)
[W,P&M]
503 x 330 mm [NB: Wheeler & Moore measurements]
This lovely bird was shot when the Investigator was moored at Memory Cove, South Australia,
22-23 February 1802. Robert Brown preserved the skin and took it back to England and presented
it to the Linnean Society of London. When the Society closed down its museum the specimen
was acquired by what is now The Natural History Museum in 1863. Memory Cove is so-called in
memory of several crew of the Investigator who lost their lives at the place. They set out in a boat
to look for fresh water and never returned: it is presumed they were eaten by sharks.
Today, the bird is common across the southern two-thirds of Australia and is a pest of wheat and
fruit crops in some parts. In Western Australia large numbers are trapped for the cage-bird
market.
W&M : 320, 338; W,P&M : 64-65; Norst : 29