1856 



THE PARROT TRIBE 



Distribution 

 and Habits 



it is furnished with a tuft of feathers. Finally, the young are born in a nearly 

 naked and completely helpless condition; and the eggs are usually, if not invari- 

 ably, white. 



For the most part parrots are thoroughly arboreal and climbing 

 birds, and are essentially characteristic of the tropical and subtropical 

 regions of the globe. At the present day none inhabit Europe, 

 although the remains of an extinct species apparently allied to a living West- Afri- 

 can species, have been obtained from the Miocene rocks of France. In America 

 one species extends as far south as the straits of Magellan, while another ranges 

 far into the United States; and in the Macquarie islands of the Australian region, 

 the group extends as far south as the 55th parallel. Although ranging over all the 

 warmer regions of the globe, these birds are very unequally distributed, being 



v*M 



COCKATOOS AT HOME. 



poorly represented in India, and still more so in Africa, while in Malaysia and Aus- 

 tralia they attain their maximum diversity of type, and in South America their 

 greatest numerical development. 



All the parrots make their nests in the hollows of trees, where they usually lay 

 from two to three white eggs, although in the case of some of the smaller species 

 the number is often considerably more. Frequently the males take their share in 

 the work of incubation, which generally lasts for about twenty-one days. The 

 young parrots are fed by the parents disgorging half-digested food from their own 

 crops into their open mouths, after the manner of pigeons. The food of the adult 

 consists in most cases of various fruits and nuts. Regarding their general habits, 

 and the important part these birds play in ^tropical scenery, Mr. Wallace writes as 

 follows: "They usually feed in flocks; they are noisy, and so attract attention; they 

 love gardens, orchards, and open sunny places; they wander about far in search of 

 food, and toward sunset turn homeward in noisy flocks or in constant pairs. Their 



