In general, even to the knowledgeable breeder, the sexes are almost as vividly coloured as each other until they are fully mature, and even then the few indicators there are as to their sex can sometimes be misjudged.


there is a lack of any striking differences between the appearances of the male and female, and even the young fledge with their full quota of brilliant red plumage – to all purposes they are sexually monomorphic. In general, even to the knowledgeable breeder, the sexes are almost as vividly coloured as each other until they are fully mature, and even then the few indicators there are as to their sex can sometimes be misjudged. However, as the genus Alisterus spreads on eastwards into the central bulk of New Guinea, it is represented by three forms of species which differs markedly in plumage from the Island Kings, and are also (like the Australian Kings, Alisterus s. scapularis and its smaller northern sub-species A.s. minor) fully sexually dimorphic in their colours. These are the Green-winged King (nominate sub-species Alisterus c. chloropterus of north-eastern New Guinea) and its two sub-species the Fly River or Salvadori’s King (A.c. callopterus from a wide area of distribution stretching almost the full length of southern New Guinea) and Moszkowski’s King (A.c. moszkowskii) from north-west New Guinea. The nominate Green-winged King and the Fly River King have the distinctive pale green to greenish yellow wing stripes (like the Australian Kings), and have


hens and fledglings which, having green heads and breasts, are very much duller than the brilliantly coloured adult cocks; but – importantly – though the Moszkowski’s hen is easily differentiated from her brighter partner in lacking his blue back and mantle, she favours the hens of her near relatives – the Island Kings in having a completely red head and breast; therefore this sub-species can be thought of as standing half way between the Island Kings and the other Green-winged (wing-striped) Kings. During the times when parrots could be imported into Britain from Djakarta, it was the Island Kings (mostly Amboinas) which first reached us; the few examples of the Green-winged Kings to come here arrived much later. Of these, it was the Moszkowski’s (as in the photographs) which would have been the most accessible to the Indonesian trappers and their tribesmen helpers as they progressed more and more deeply into the lower areas of the heavy mountainside forests of the Indonesian sector of New Guinea. Due to the nature of its territory and the bird’s ability to keep itself obscure, it can be imagined that this parrot’s status in the wild must be difficult to judge, but it has been said that it is scarce over its range and only common in certain areas. Imported birds were extremely difficult to acclimatize. Even when British bred


08 44


BIRD SCENE


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