Superb Parrot

Polytelis swainsonii

Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest was the first to describe the species, in 1826.

Polytelis is derived from the Greek poluteles (extravagant or lavish); swainsonii commemorates English naturalist William Swainson.

John Gould (artist), Henry Constantine Richter (lithographer), Polytelis barrabandi (Barraband’s Parrakeet) 1848 

(adult female, left; adult male, right)

Author’s note: Gould named the Superb Parrot Polytelis barrabandi, Barraband’s Parrot, after the famous French bird artist, Jacques Barraband, but it had already been named Polytelis swainsonii.

Ebenezer Edward Gostelow,
The Superb Parrot (Green Leek) (Polytelis swainsoni) 1929
(adult female, left; adult male, right)

Author’s note: The colonists of New South Wales knew the Superb Parrot as the Green Leek or Green-leek. The bird was often traded live in Sydney during the 1830s and the 1840s. Today, it seems to be much less common.