However, when a few people tried to place the parakeets into bigger aviaries, gave them room to fly, a few perches and twigs, the birds proved the literature wrong. Suddenly they behaved like we know today: perky little climbers, fast fliers and charming personalities. But – let’s take one thing at a time...


Fine feathers make fine birds At first glance the Lineolated Parakeet mainly is green, although many tinges are possible from light green to darker grass green. The parakeet-typical long tail feathers are missing, only one third of the total body length of around 16 cm is covered by the short, pointy tail. Also the body shape is more like that of a shrunken Amazon parrot than that of svelte parakeets like Budgies or Cockatiels. With its weight between 45 and 70 g – depending on the size – the Lineolated Parakeet definitely belongs to the small parrots. A striking characteristic of these so called Linnies is the big horn-coloured beak with its featherless cere on a relatively huge head. So it is no surprise that the Latin genus name ‘Bolborhynchus’ indeed describes this as a ‘bulb beak’ which the Lineolated Parakeet has in common with the other members of the ‘Thick-billed parakeets’. Referring to the second part of the Latin species name ‘lineola’ we find another characteristic of these little parrots: fine black lines and


38 BIRD SCENE


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