514 



PARRIN^E. 



four to ten or twelve, oval, light-coloured, and spotted, 

 dotted, or speckled all over with dusky. The young are at 

 first covered with long, generally black down, and are im- 

 mediately after birth capable of running about with great 

 celerity, and even of swimming. They conceal themselves 

 by squatting, but more frequently by diving and betaking 

 themselves to the cover of leaves or tufts of grass, where 

 they can thrust up their heads unperceivcd. The adult 

 birds have the same habit. 



Some of the Parrinae are solitary, others in a great 

 measure gregarious. Their food is various, consisting of 

 worms, mollusca, insects, blades of grass, and seeds, espe- 

 cially of gramina. They use a large quantity of sand and 

 gravel, like the gallinaceous birds, to whose digestive organs 

 theirs are very similar, although they differ in Avanting the 

 crop, and in having the cceca much smaller. 



The plumage is changed in autumn. The colours are 

 various, and in many species extremely beautiful. The 



Fig. 44. 



males and females are similar in most cases, and in general 

 the young differ little from the adult. Their flesh is white, 

 and affords delicate eating. 



The genera may be briefly characterized as follows : — 

 1. Pallus has the bill most elongated and slender, with the 

 nasal groove extending to two-thirds of its length, the ridge 

 scarcely enlarged at the base. 2. Parr a has the bill of 



