A drawing for plate 38 of Lear's own Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae or Parrots, first published in 12 parts between 1 November 1830 and early 1832, collected edition by April 1832: 'Kuhl's Parrakeet Psittacula Kuhlii'. In the plate the bird appears twice or, following the pattern of other double compositions, as male and female; this drawing is for the bird on the left.
Lear redrew the same species for plate 23 of Jardine's Naturalist's Journal, vol. XVIII in the 1843 collected edition, first published as u.c. vol.VI of Ornithology in 1836, where called 'Kuhl's Coriphilus/Coriphilus Kuhlii'; the body of the bird is seen more from the side so that the head, although again seen in profile, is less turned. Selby's text states that 'This beautiful little bird was first described and figured by Mr Vigars in the Zoological Journal from one of the specimens received by Mr Cross, formerly of Exeter Change, and now proprietor of the Surrey Zoological Gardens [at Chessington], from an island in the vicinity of Otaheite. In beauty of plumage, and elegance of aspect, it yields to few of the race; but it appears to be of a mild and timorous disposition, at least in regard to strangers... Its voice is weak and sibilous, similar to the other species of this group, the Coriphili'