grey-headed lovebird

In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description and an illustration of the grey-headed lovebird in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Madagascar. He used the French name La petite perruche de Madagasgar and the Latin Psittacula Madagascariensis.{{ cite book | last=Brisson | first=Mathurin Jacques | author-link=Mathurin Jacques Brisson | year=1760 | title=Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés | volume=4 | language=French, Latin | place=Paris | publisher=Jean-Baptiste Bauche | pages=394–396, Plate 30 fig 2 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36195513 }} The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.{{cite journal |last=Allen | first=J.A. | author-link=Joel Asaph Allen | year=1910 | title=Collation of Brisson's genera of birds with those of Linnaeus |journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |volume=28 | pages=317–335 | url=http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/handle/2246/678}} The lovebird was subsequently described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1779 and the English ornithologist John Latham in 1781, but neither author included a binomial name.{{ cite book | last=Buffon | first=Georges-Louis Leclerc de | author-link=Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon | year=1779 | title=Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux | volume=6 | location=Paris | publisher=De l'Imprimerie Royale | pages=171–172 | chapter=La perruche à tête grise | language=French | chapter-url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1069718q/f213.item }}{{ cite book | last1=Buffon | first1=Georges-Louis Leclerc de | author1-link=Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon | last2=Martinet | first2=François-Nicolas | author2-link=François-Nicolas Martinet | last3=Daubenton | first3=Edme-Louis | author3-link=Edme-Louis Daubenton | last4=Daubenton | first4=Louis-Jean-Marie | author4-link=Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton | year=1765–1783 | chapter=Petite perruche de Madagascar | title=Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle | volume=8 | location=Paris | publisher=De L'Imprimerie Royale | at=Plate 791, fig 2 | chapter-url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35218477 }}{{cite book| last=Latham | first=John | year=1781| author-link=John Latham (ornithologist) | title=A General Synopsis of Birds | volume=1, Part 1 | pages=315–316, No. 122 | location=London | publisher= Printed for Benj. White | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33727833 }} When in 1788 the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin revised and expanded Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae, he included the grey-headed lovebird. He placed it with all the other parrots in the genus Psittacus, coined the binomial name Psittacus canus and cited the earlier publications.{{ cite book | last=Gmelin | first=Johann Friedrich | author-link=Johann Friedrich Gmelin| year=1788 | title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=13th | volume=1, Part 1 | language=Latin | location=Lipsiae [Leipzig] | publisher=Georg. Emanuel. Beer | page=350 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2896950 }} The grey-headed lovebird is now placed with seven other lovebirds in the genus Agapornis that was introduced by the English naturalist Prideaux John Selby in 1836.{{ cite book | last=Selby | first=Prideaux John | author-link=Prideaux John Selby | year=1836 | title=The Natural History of Parrots | series=The Naturalist's Library. Volume 6. | location=Edinburgh | publisher=W.H. Lizards | page=118 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/25572523 }}{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=January 2022 | title=Parrots, cockatoos | work=IOC World Bird List Version 12.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/parrots/| publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=26 June 2022 }} The genus name combines the Ancient Greek αγάπη agape meaning "love" and όρνις ornis meaning "bird". The specific epithet canus is the Latin word for "grey".{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n36/mode/1up 36], [https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n89/mode/1up 89]}}

Two subspecies are recognised:

• A. c. canus (Gmelin, JF, 1788) – Madagascar (except the south)
• A. c. ablectaneus Bangs, 1918 – southern Madagascar

The grey-headed lovebird is one of the smallest species of the lovebird genus, being 13 cm (5 inches) long and weighing about 30–36 grams. Its beak and feet are pale grey. The species is sexually dimorphic: the adult female is entirely green, with a dark green back and wings, a bright green rump, and a paler green chest; the adult male are similarly colored, except that their entire head and upper chest are a pale grey.

Grey-headed lovebirds are strong fliers, and when open, their wings seem larger in relation to their bodies than those of the peach-faced lovebird. They can develop good speed quite quickly and effortlessly, and turn smoothly, though they are not as nimble in the air as the peach-faced lovebirds.

Grey-headed lovebirds were first imported for European aviculture in the second half of the nineteenth century. When imports were permitted and they were available to aviculture in large numbers, little effort was put into breeding. They prefer to breed in the autumn, and because they have poor tolerance for cold weather breeding in aviculture is generally unsuccessful. They tend to be nervous and easily frightened in an aviary.{{cite book |first = Kenny |last = Le Breton |title = Lovebirds...getting started |year = 1992 |isbn = 0-86622-411-4 |publisher = T.F.H. Publications |location = USA |pages = [https://archive.org/details/lovebirdsashobby00lebr/page/88 88–89] |url-access = registration |url = https://archive.org/details/lovebirdsashobby00lebr/page/88 }}

It is quite rare in captivity, with only a very few breeders having successfully reproduced more than one or two generations. This, and the fact that even hand-fed birds remain too shy and nervous to make good pets, are clear reasons for any captive Madagascars to be given a chance to breed, rather than being kept as pets.

Grey-headed lovebirds prefer finch and canary seed over the sunflower/safflower mixes that most other lovebirds eat.

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite web| publisher =BirdLife International (2008) |url = http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=1506&m=0 |title = Species factsheet: Agapornis canus |access-date = 9 July 2008 }}

{{Psittaculini}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q845942}}

grey-headed lovebird

Category:Endemic birds of Madagascar

grey-headed lovebird

grey-headed lovebird