Cape Parrot (or Brown-necked)

P. robustus robustus

Description: Despite its huge beak this is a handsome bird. In the nominate race the forehead is greenish brown to yellowish brown flecked with darker brown and dull green. Both sexes have orange on the forehead but the female has more. The feathers of the back and wing coverts are black, broadly edged with dark green. The rump and under parts are green, suffused with dull blue and/or grey. The thighs and outer edge of the wing are orange and the tail is blackish brown. The iris is dark brown and the beak pale horn-coloured. Length: 32 cm (12 in). Weight: M 295-401 g (10½ -14¼ oz); F 280-364 g (10-13 oz approx.).

The plumage of immature birds varies, perhaps according to the sub­species. Those bred in Basle Zoo, Switzerland, were said to have no orange on the thighs or wing; the head was brownish olive, sometimes marked with pink.  However, Dr E. Hopkinson, who lived in Africa, was very familiar with this species and had kept a num­ber of young birds. He wrote (1910) that the young were more brightly coloured than the adults and that he had `often watched the change from the red-headed stage of the youngsters to that of the grey-headed, red-winged, and -thighed adult'. One young bird which he took from the nest had the `whole crown from forehead to nape bright brick red'. It also showed a`pale wash of the same colour over the rest of the head, the ground colour of which is brownish-grey as in the adult'. This head colouration, he found, is lost at the first or second moult when the bird had no orange at all in the plumage. This stage was followed by adult plumage (Hopkinson, 1916). It should be borne in mind that he was familiar with the race from Gambia, fuscicollis, which also occurs in south­ern Senegal to northern Ghana and Togo.

Range/Habitat: The nominate race is found in extreme south-eastern Africa from Knysna and eastern Cape Province to Natal, western Zululand, western Swaziland and eastern Transvaal. A locally distributed bird of forest and thick bush, it is uncommon throughout most of its range and is seen in small flocks. It feeds mainly on fruits and berries. The clutch is said to consist normally of four eggs.

P. r. suahelicus

Description: Hubert Astley wrote (1915) of the strange head colour­ation `it is no more brown than it is blue or yellow'. The bird which Astley knew was evidently suahelicus for he described its head as `silver­grey, suffused with dull rose-pink, that is to say, each dull pink feather seems to have a silver-grey edging'. The effect is one of most unusual beauty and entirely unlike the colouration of any other parrot. In suahelicus the female has the fore­head and part of the crown orange; this colour is missing in the male. Weight: M 326 g(11½ oz); F 320 g (114 oz).

Range/Habitat: this race inhabits Mozambique, Zimbabwe, northern Lesotho, northern South West Africa to Angola, southern Congo and central Tanzania.

The numbers of this species are in­creasingly giving cause for concern, although its exact status in the three areas in which it is found must be dif­ficult to determine.

Aviculture: This has always been a rare bird in captivity; probably the main reasons are that it is not common in the wild, that its large beak deters aviculturists and that it is not easy to establish. Dr E. Hopkinson found adults almost impossible to keep alive for any length of time without ground­ nuts. Young birds were more easily established.

London Zoo exhibited two speci­mens as long ago as 1869. This species has never been imported in anything but small numbers and I know of only two importations in Britain consisting of more than a handful of birds, the largest being of 18.