HISTORY OF THE PARROTS. 3 



satisfactorily resolve. In addition to the true Maccaws, 

 the typical form of this subfamily, it appears natu- 

 rally to embrace many of the other American long- 

 tailed species, now divided into separate generic 

 groups (except by Wagler, who retains the whole 

 under the single genius Sittace), one of which has 

 been characterized under the title of Psittacarz, 

 Vigors, answering nearly to the Peruche-Aras of 

 the French ornithologists, the members of which are 

 distinguished by having the orbits and face to a 

 greater or less extent naked, as exhibited in the spe- 

 cies selected for illustration. Another is composed 

 of the species in which those parts are feathered, and 

 for which the title of Aratinga has been proposed, 

 though it is probable that a still further generic sub- 

 division of this latter group will be required. In 

 this division, also, we would place the long-tailed 

 Parrots of the ancient world, forming the genus Pa- 

 Itzornis, Vigors, a group whose history and distri- 

 bution he has traced with such acumen and classic 

 lore in the pages of the Zoological Journal. With 

 this group we shall commence our illustrations, as it 

 is through one of its members, the Palceornis Barra- 

 bandi, Vigors, that a connexion appears to be sup- 

 ported with the Platycercine or broad-tailed division, 

 which stands at the further extremity of the circle of 

 the Psittacidce. This bird, with the tail and general 

 character of Palceornis, exhibiting a near approach 

 in the proportions of its legs and feet to the genus 

 Platycercus, Vigors, of whose region or metropolis 



