PSITTACID^ — THE PARROTS. 585 



Family PSITT ACID^. — The Tarrots. 



Guar. Bill greatly hooked ; the maxilla movable and with a cere at the base. Nostrils 

 in the base of the bill. Feet scansorial, covered with granulated scales. 



The above diagnosis characterizes briefly a family of the Zjjgodactyli having 

 representatives throughout tlie greater part of the world, except Europe, and 

 embracing about three hundred and fifty species, according to the late 

 enumeration of Finsch,^ of which one hundred and forty-two, or nearly one 

 half, are American (seventy Brazilian alone). The subfamilies are as 

 follows : — 



I. StriiigopinEe. Appearance owl-like ; face somewhat veiled or with a 



facial disk, as in the Owls. 



II. Plyctolophinae. Head with an erectile crest, of variable shape. 



III. Sittacinae. Head plain. Tail long, or lengthened, wedge-shaped or 

 graduated. 



IV. Psittacinae. Head plain. Tail short or moderate, straight or rounded. 



V. Trichoglossinae. Tip of tongue papillose. Bill compressed ; tip of 



maxilla internally smooth, not crenate ; gonys obliquely ascending. 



Of these, Nos. Ill and IV alone are represented in the New World, and 

 only the Sittacinm occur in the United States, with one species. 



Subfamily SITTACIN-ffi. 



The lengthened cuneate tail, as already stated, distinguishes this group 

 from the American Psittacinm with short, square, or rounded tail. The 

 genera are distinguished as follows : — 



Sittace. Culmen flattened. Face naked, except in ^S*. j^aclvjrhnncha. Tail 

 as long as or longer than wings. 



Conurus. Culmen rounded. Face entirely feathered, except a curve around 

 the eye. Tail shorter than wings. 



Of the genus Sittace, which embraces eighteen species, two come sufficiently 

 near to the southern borders of the United States to render it not impossible 

 that they may yet be found to cross the border. Of one of these, indeed, 

 (aS'. pachyrhyncha,) there is a specimen in the Museum of the Philadelphia 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, presented by J. W. Audubon as sliot on the 

 Eio Grande of Texas ; and another (>S'. militaris) is common at Mazatlan, and 

 perhaps even at Guaymas. There is considerable -reason for doubt as to the 

 authenticity of the alleged locality of the S. pachyrhyncha, but for the 



1 Die Papageien. Monographiscli bearbeitet von Otto Finsch. 2 vols. Leiden, 1867, 1868. 

 VOL. II. 74 



