the list being two specimens purchased in 1891. It 

 readied the Aiasterdam Gardens in 1852, and thoee of 

 Berlin in 1863. since wlien it lias come to hand from 

 time to time. 



VARtECVTED Torii.vcou {Sch'tzorhis africaita). 



Above with b.ick of neck, mantle, and wing-coveits 

 ashy-grey, the featliers mostly with dark brown shaft- 

 stripes expanding into subterminal spots ; bastard wing, 

 outer gi-e.iter coverts, and flights black ; primaries with 

 their inner webs largely white towards base ; back and 

 upper tail-coverts browner than mantle, with dark 

 bro\ni ehaft-st lines; tail black, passing into a.«hy-brown 

 on greati^r part of centi'al feathers and towards base of 

 approximate feathers ; head, including chin and tlu'oat, 

 dark brown mottled with white on front of crown and 

 sides; crest-feathers v/ith narrow white edges; feathers 

 at back of throat white-edged ; remainder of under parts 

 white with narrow dark brown sliaf t-stripes ; bill yel- 

 low; feet and ii-ides dark brown. Female slightly 

 fimaller, and' doubtless with broader bill. Hab., "West 

 Africa, from the Niger to Senegambia, and inland to 

 Stanley Pool on the Congo." (Shellev.) 



Oajptain B. Alexander says (The Ibis, 1902, p. 362) : 

 "This species inhabits open, tree-grown country, and 

 is generally found in pairs. It always selects the top- 

 most boughs of a tree on which to alight." 



The London Zoological Society first secured this bird 

 in 1863, in 1866 they purchased a second, and in 1873 

 they received two in exchange. Russ does not say 

 whether it has appeared in any of the Continental gar- 

 dens, but observes, " It rarely comes into our market." 



This brings mie to the end of the Picarian birde, next 

 to which we have to consider the popular Psittacine 

 forms; not that I personally take especial delight in 

 them — on the contrary, I would rather take up the 

 study of almost any other group of cage-birds ; they 

 iU'e such risk>' creatures to handle, and in many cases 

 eo treacherous and vindictive that they do not appeal 

 to me. Of course, there are exceptions, and for their 

 sake I would not condemn the whole order ; besides, 

 even if the gaudy colouring of Parrots is sometimes in- 

 artistic and even vulgar, the capacity which many 

 possess of leaxning to talk renders them amusing pets. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



0J!I)EL' IIL— I 'SITTA ( 7. 



These birds are generally admitted to be allied to 

 the Birds of Prey, to which the great, strongly-hooked 

 upper mandible and basal cere give them some resem- 

 blance; certainly the taste which the Kea has acquired 

 for fat torn from the kidneys of Uving sheep seems to 

 point to a predatory instinct inherited from some Hawk- 

 like ancestor. I remember my friend Mr. F. W. 

 Frohawk, who possessed one of these birds for a con- 

 siderable time, saying that it seemed more like a 

 Buzzard than a Parrot. In their scansorial habits, 

 zygodactyle feet, usualiy arboreal life, and gaudy 

 colours, their habit of nesting in holes and laying 

 .white eggs, they seem to show relationship to some of 

 -the Picarian groups, while the dilatation of the oeso- 

 phagus, which secretes a milliy fluid, reminds one of 

 the Columbic. The highly-developed brain, which led 

 some naturalists to regard them as having a claim to 

 be placed at the head of the birds, the large, fleshy 



1-27 



tongue and the conformation of the larynx, which 

 render mimicry of the human voice and many other 

 sounds easy to these birds and the movable uppi i 

 mandible, represent a combination of characters dit 

 tinguishing the Parrots from all other orders. If you 

 soften a Pariot's skull and raise the upper mandible, 

 you will sec a beautiful mechanism at work — a sort of 

 piston-rod moving backwards and forwards in relation 

 to the position of the mandible. 



Jlost of the species lay in holes in trees, very few 

 making any nest; the eggs are white, like those of 

 Doves ; the young are born naked, and are fed from the 

 crop. 



Count Salvadori divides the Parrots into six families : 



1. Nestoridce, represented by the Ka-ka Parrots, very 

 ugly and rarely imported birds, with long and fairly 

 slender beaks; the family consists of one genus, and is 

 conhned to the New Zealand sub-region. 



2. Loriidce, including the Lories and Lorikeets, occur- 

 ring in Australia and Polynesia. 



3. CydopsittacidcE, a group of Lorikeets confined to 

 the Austro-Malayan sub-region. 



4. Cacaluidce, or Cockatoos and Cockatiels, extending 

 over the Australian region and the Philippine Islands. 



5. I'sillacidce, occurring over a very extensive area 

 lx)th of the Old and New Worlds, and including the 

 ilacaws, Conm-es, Parrakeets, true Parrots, and Love- 

 birds. 



6. Stringopidce, containing the singular Nigiht Parrot 

 of New Zealand. 



In captivity the parrots i-equire diflferent treaitment 

 according to the group to which they belong ; their food 

 in a wild state differs so gi'Ciitly that to attempt to 

 provide a general food for the whole Order is just as 

 hopelessly absurd as it would be to make up a. mixture 

 for the universal diet of the whole of the Mammalia. 

 In these birds, therefore, I shall deal ivith the question 

 of food under each group eeparately. 



KA=KAS (Ncstofhiv). 



In these birds the beak is long and compara.tively 

 slender with grooved culmen, the hook almost smooth 

 below or very slightly ridged longitudinally ; the lower 

 mandible extended, without the usual angle or aibrupt 

 curve, but with an almost straight ciu'vature towards 

 the tip ; tongue fringed. 



The sexes differ in the irize and outline of fiheLr beaks. 



In captivity these birds should be fed', according to 

 Frohawk, upon carrots, swedes, potato, any kind of 

 fruit, dog-biscuit, nuts, bones, either raw or cooked 

 (which it greatly enjoyed) ; " it also caught, skinned, 

 and ate mice; in fact, anything seemed to suit it." 



Ke.\ or Mountain Ka-Ka [Nestor notabilis). 



Dull olive-green with black edges to the feathers; 

 Mights dusky -brown ; outer web of primai'iee bluish; 

 iiuier web dentated with lemon-yellow ; outer web of 

 secondaries greenish-blue, inner web dentated with 

 orange-red ; rump and upper wing-coverts washed to- 

 «'ai-ds tips with orange-red ; tail bluish-olive, belted near 

 extremity with blackish-brown ; inner webs of feathers 

 dentated with bright lemon-yellow ; ear-coverts dusky ; 

 under wing-coverts and axilL^ries orange-red; bill 

 greyish-brown ; feet yellowi.sh-olive ; irides black. 

 Female duller and with bix>ader dusky borders to the 

 fea there. Hab., Soutli Island, New Zealand. 



This species was discovered in 1856 b.v Mr. Walter 

 ^Mantell in the higher mountain ranges "of the South 

 Island. In its wild state it feeds upon fruits, seeds, and 



