,,^. SOME NEW BOOKS. 151 



Catalogue of the Psittaci. or Parrots, in the Collection of the British 

 Museum. By T. Salvador!. Pp. xvii., 658. Pis. xviii. London British 

 Museum, 1891 (1892). 



The twentieth volume of the British Museum Catalogue of Birds, 

 a Monograph of the Parrots, by Count Salvadori, has recently been 

 issued. The collection of Parrots in the British Museum is not so 

 extensive or so nearly complete as that of the orders treated in the 

 preceding volumes ; and the Trustees have thus been fortunate in 

 securing the services of an eminent specialist who is well acquainted 

 with the genera and species in foreign collections that supplement 

 the one on which the volume before us is particularly based. As 

 the result of his researches, Count Salvadori presents ornithologists 

 with a valuable work of reference, full of original matter, and 

 admirably illustrated by a series of beautiful plates by Keulemans. 

 At the same time, the author regrets his investigations add very 

 little to previous knowledge of the mutual or phylogenetic relations 

 of the various groups and families dealt with ; and no satisfactory 

 information on this subject can be expected until the anatomical 

 work of Garrod is resumed and much extended. 



There seems to be no longer any doubt that the Parrots are more 

 closely related to the Owls than to the diurnal Birds of Prey. They 

 form the Order Psittaci of modern classifications, and at the present 

 time they are chiefly tropical birds, though some species extend as far 

 as 42° N. lat. and 55 ' S. lat. They are specially distinguished from 

 their allies by the well-known "zygodactyle" form of their feet 

 {i.e., two toes turned forwards, two backwards) and the extremely 

 short, stout, strongly hooked character of the bill, which has a 

 cere (frequently feathered) at its base, as in birds of prey. The 

 upper jaw is moveable, being hinged on the forehead ; and the 

 tongue is thick and fleshy, sometimes fringed. The ring of bone 

 round the cavity for the eye is often complete, and the septum 

 between the right and left cavities of the nose extensively ossi- 

 fied. The feathers have aftershafts ; the young are hatched 

 helpless, without down or feathers, which successively appear. 

 The eggs are white. 



According to Count Salvadori, Parrots may be arranged in six 

 families, three of which have the oral surface of the hook of the bill 

 smooth, while the remaining three exhibit a file-like roughness of this 

 surface. The first three families are those of the Nestoridae (from 

 New Zealand), the Loriidae or " Lories " (from the Australian Region, 

 except New Zealand), and the Cyclopsittacidae (from the Austro- 

 Malayan sub-region). These are mutually distinguished by the 

 characters of the tongue and bill. The second three families, with 

 file-like bill, are the Cacatuidai or "Cockatoos" (ranging over the 

 Australian Region and the Philippine Islands), the Psittacidae, or 

 " Macaws," " Parakeets," and true short-tailed " Parrots " (distri- 

 buted throughout the intertropical regions), and the Stringopidae, 

 (found only in New Zealand). Of these, the first two families have a 

 complete sternum, while the Ground Parrot Stringops, as might be 

 expected, possesses a sternum with a rudimentary keel. The 

 Cockatoos have a crest of feathers on the head, and a complete 

 orbital ring, and thus differ from the Macaws, Parakeets, and Parrots 

 proper. 



The detailed diagnoses of nearly 500 species are given by Count 

 Salvadori, and 13 of the forms recognised are new. 



