240 PARROTS. 



are enlivened by the presence of the superb Macaws ; those of 

 India and its islands by the elegantly-shaped and scarlet-clothed 

 Lories ; while those of Australia resound with the harsh voice of 

 the Cockatoos and the shriller screams of the Parrakeets. In 

 these, their natural situations, their movements are marked by 

 an ease and gracefulness we can never see exhibited in a state 

 of confinement. They are represented as climbing about the 

 branches in every direction, and as suspending themselves from 

 them in every possible attitude, in all which movements they are 

 greatly assisted by their hooked and powerful bill, which is used 

 both as an organ of prehension and for support. The pointed 

 and ample wing, which prevails among the parrots, indicates a 

 corresponding power of flight ; and, accordingly, we learn from 

 those who have enjoyed the enviable opportunity of seeing and 

 studying them in their native wilds, that it is rapid, elegant, and 

 vigorous, capable of being long sustained, and that many of the 

 species are in the habit of describing circles and other aerial evo- 

 lutions, previous to their alighting upon the trees which afford 

 them food. Many races of parrots are gregarious, and, except 

 during the breeding season, are always seen in numerous bodies. 

 Others, as the Black Cockatoos, are met with only in pairs or 

 families. The places selected for hatching and rearing their young 

 are the hollows of decayed trees : they make little or no nest, 

 but deposit their eggs, which, in different tribes, vary from two 

 to six in number, upon the bare rotten wood. In these hollows 

 they frequently roost for the night. The natural cry of the birds 

 consists entirely of hoarse, shrill, and piercing screams frequently 

 reiterated, and some species possess the power of imitating the 

 human voice and learning to articulate a variety of words and 

 sentences ; but this faculty seems to be principally confined to the 

 short and even-tailed parrots, in which the tongue is large, broad, 

 and fleshy at the tip. Generally speaking, they may be described 

 as a noisy race, associating together in flocks, and feeding upon 

 fruits, buds, and seeds. They sleep crowded together, and are 

 fond of preening each other's plumage. Moreover, they are mo- 

 nogamous, the pairs forming lasting associations. These birds 

 are more particularly inhabitants of warm climates, and are 

 abundant in intertropical countries. In the southern hemisphere, 

 however, they occur in temperate latitudes, but to the north of 

 the equator are rarely met with beyond the Tropic of Cancer. 

 They arc tender and well-flavoured, and arc frequently used as 

 food in the districts they inhabit. 



