The Brown-headed Parrot (Poicephalus cryptoxanthus) is a mostly green African parrot with a greyish-brown head and yellow under its wings. The adult birds have yellow eyes and juvenile birds have brown eyes.

The yellow under its wings explains its name cryptoxanthus, which means "hidden yellow"; from Greek xanthos or ?????? means "yellow", and "crypto", from the Greek kryptos, is an English prefix that means "hidden" or "secret".

Taxonomy

Up to three subspecies are sometimes recognised:

• Poicephalus c. cryptoxanthus "? e South Africa to s Mozambique
• Poicephalus c. tanganyikae "? Mozambique to Kenya
• Poicephalus c. zanzibaricus "? Zanzibar and Pemba islands

The differences are however slight and White (1965) considers the species monotypic.

Aviculture

The Brown-headed Parrot are popular in aviculture. They have a very sweet temperament and tend to be a quieter bird. All parrots make some noise, but they tend to be quiet enough to make a good apartment bird.