80 HISTORY OF THE PARROTS. 



many of them exhibit an elegance of form and grace- 

 fulness of carriage surpassed by few other birds, 

 The formation of the feet, which are zygodactile, or 

 with the toes placed two forwards and two backwards, 

 and, in all but the few aberrant species previously ad- 

 verted to, expressly adapted and formed for firm pre- 

 hension and climbing, evidently points to woods and 

 forests as the appropriate and natural habitats of the 

 race. It is accordingly in those regions where the 

 trees are clothed in perpetual verdure, and where a 

 constant and never failing succession of fruits and 

 seeds (the common food and support of the tribe) 

 can always be procured, that the parrots are found 

 in the greatest numbers and profusion. Thus the 

 recesses of the interminable forests of South America 

 are enlivened by the presence of the superb Maccaws, 

 and the nearly allied species of the genus Psittacara ; 

 those of India and its islands by the elegantly-shaped 

 members of the genus Palaeornis, and the scarlet- 

 clothed Lories ; while those of Australia resouna 

 with the harsh voice of the Cockatoos, and the shriller 

 screams of the nectivorous Trichoglossi, and broad- 

 tailed Parrakeets or Platycerci. In these their natu- 

 ral situations, their movements are marked by an ease 

 and gracefulness we can never see exhibited in a 

 state of confinement. They are represented as climb- 

 ing about the branches in every direction, and as 

 suspending themselves from them in every possible 

 attitude ; in all which movements they are great.y 

 assisted by their hooked and powerful bill, which A 



