CHAPTER X 

 THE PARROT TRIBE ORDER PSITTACI 



ONE of the most interesting groups of birds is that of the parrots, under which 

 general term may be included not only the true parrots, but likewise the macaws, 

 lories, love birds, cockatoos, etc. This general interest is due not only to the beauty 

 of form and gorgeousness of plumage characterizing so many members of the group, 

 but likewise to the ease with which they are domesticated, their pleasing manners 

 when in this state, and above all to the extraordinary facility with which they recol- 

 lect and repeat sentences of human speech. That the memory of parrots is very 

 strongly developed, there can be no sort of doubt; but whether their intellectual 

 powers rank really higher than those of some of the Passerine birds is problemati- 

 cal. The appropriateness to the occasion with which sentences learned by these 

 birds are sometimes uttered is probably mainly or entirely due to association, and in 

 no sense implies any knowledge of the meaning of the phrase. It may be added 

 that the occasions when such phrases are introduced inappropriately are, perhaps, 

 not much less infrequent than when they are opposite. 



Parrots form a large group, including considerably more than five hundred 

 species, which present well-marked characteristics by which its members can be 

 readily distinguished from all other assemblages of birds. Their most obvious exter- 

 nal characteristics are displayed by their feet and bill. In the feet the fourth toe 

 (as in some of the Picarians) is permanently turned backward, and as the first toe has 

 likewise a similar direction, the whole foot is divided into a front and back portion, 

 each comprising two digits; this type of foot structure being termed zygodactyle. 

 The covering of the feet takes the form of rough granular scales. As regards the 

 beak, its base is invested with the wax-like protuberance termed the cere, which is 

 frequently feathered, while in form it is short, stout, and strongly hooked at the' 

 extremity. In addition to the above, it may be noted that, owing to the presence 

 of a transverse hinge in the skull, the upper half of the beak is movable, while the 

 palate is of the bridged (desmognathous) type. The skull, as shown in the figure 

 in the introductory chapter, is also very generally distinguished by the presence of 

 a complete bony ring surrounding the socket of the eye, and the symphysis of the 

 lower jaw is short, obtuse, and deeply channelled. The tongue is also thick and 

 fleshy, and may be fringed or brush like at the extremity. Extreme shortness 

 characterizes the legs of most of the species, this shortness being most marked in 

 the metatarsus, of which the bone is greatly expanded. The leg bone, or tibia, 

 generally has no bony bridge at- the lower end. The furcula is always weak, and 

 may be incomplete or even wanting. The feathers are provided with aftershafts, 

 and the number in the tail is, except in one genus, ten. If an oil gland is present 



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