THE AMERICAN SHARP-TAILED PARROTS 



1875 



of the order met with in Africa and America. In the Australasian region they are 

 found in association with all the other five families. The family is divided into six 

 subfamilies. 



Pygmy Parrots 



Subfamily 



New Guinea 

 is a country of 

 strange creatures, but none 

 of its living products are more 

 remarkable than the pygmy 

 parrots, some of which are 

 actually smaller than an Eng- 

 lish sparrow. These birds 

 have their beaks shaped as in 

 the cockatoos, with a broad 

 band-like cere, which becomes 

 narrower in the middle line. 

 They are, however, specially 

 distinguished by their short 

 and squared tails, in which 

 the pointed extremities of the 

 shafts of the feathers project 

 beyond the vanes. When 

 folded the long wings reach 

 beyond the end of the tail, 

 and the claws are remarkably 

 elongated. The males of 

 these pygmies are most gor- 

 geous in color, but their 

 consorts show much more 

 sober tints. Altogether nine 



species of these parrots are recognized. In the species figured above (Nasiterna 

 pygnuza), the total length is just over three inches, but it is rather more in the red- 

 capped species (N. bruijni). 



PYGMY PARROT. 



(Natural size.) 



THE AMERICAN SHARP-TAILED PARROTS 

 Subfamily CONURIN^E 



The pygmy parrots constituting a subfamily by themselves, we come now to a 

 second very large subfamily, exclusively confined to the New World, and ranging 

 from Carolina to Patagonia. These parrots, which include the well-known macaws 

 and the smaller conures, are characterized by their graduated and generally long 



