On a group of Psittacidce known to the Ancients. 6S 



duced to notice in consequence of the rough feel which that 

 member possesses when applied to the skin. How different this 

 roughness is from the soft touch of the Parrots^ tongues in general , 

 may be decided by those who are accustomed to the familiar 

 habits of these birds, one of the most usual of which is the playful 

 mode of passing their tongue over the hands and face of those to 

 whom they are attached. The singular anomaly presented by this 

 unusual structure of the tongue, in the birds already mentioned,^ 

 to which may be added the equally singular conformation «K-i 

 hibited in the tongue of Microglossum, affords scope for various 

 and interesting conjectures. And it is to be hoped that mean* 

 may be taken to ascertain more in detail the nature of the mem'*: 

 ber itselfj as well as the use to which it is applied^ by those who 

 have the opportunity of observing the manners of these birds tof 

 any extent. But to return to our series of affinities. A strong 

 affinity to the genus Lorius may be traced in an assemblage of 

 small Parrakeets apparently peculiar to the Indian Ocean, of 

 which Psit, pyrrkopterus Lath., described in the last volume of 

 this Journal, Psit, Sparmanni Le Vaill., and Psit.fringillaceus 

 Gmel., may be adduced as examples. In all the birds of thi* 

 group the bill has much of the form of that of Lorius^ while ia- 

 many of them the deep red and blue colours still prevail ; but the 

 tail gradually increases in length, and becoming more cuneiform,, 

 indicates a return to the long-tailed, tribes from which we com- 

 menced. A group of South America seems immediately to meet 

 them, of which I would select PwY. aureus Gmel.^ and vir'idissimus 

 Temm. et Kuhl, as the representatives ; and these birds in eon- 

 junction with Fsit, CaroUnensis Linn., and others where the bill 

 becomes stouter, and the tail still longer, complete the circle of 

 this subfamily by uniting themselves with the Parrakcet-MaC'^ 

 cazcs which claimed our earliest notice as wq entered it. The 

 limits of the groups which I have last particularized, as well as of 

 many of the remaining Psittacidce are difficult to be determined, 

 while the materials to which we have access in this country are so-, 

 scanty. We may seize upon the prominent forms and detect the 

 great outlines of the groups of nature ; but to fill up the sketch ia 



