DASYPTILUS. 161 



of considerable size, measuring upwards of twenty 

 inches in length. The bill is not so deep at the 

 base as in the great majority of the tribe, and its 

 length is greater than its height. The upper man- 

 dible is but moderately curved at the base, but bends 

 suddenly down towards the tip, like that of the 

 Raptorial Birds, and overhangs the under, which is 

 shorter, moderately convex and carinated, with the 

 tip naiTOwed and strongly emarginated on each side. 

 The nostrils are round, placed in the cere at the base 

 of the bill, the orbits and cheeks naked, thinly beset 

 with hairs, the head and upper neck is also nearly bare, 

 being thinly covered with setaceous feathers. The 

 tarsi and feet are strong, the former short and reti- 

 culated. The tail consists of ten rigid feathers, of 

 mean length and rounded. The wings are ample, 

 the first quill short, the third and fifth of equal length, 

 the fourth the longest in the wing. The upper 

 plumage is of a shining or velvet black, with the ex- 

 ception of the greater wing-coverts and upper tail- 

 coverts, which are crimson, and the secondary quills, 

 which have their outer webs of the same colour. The 

 lower neck and upper part of the breast is black, the 

 belly, vent, and thighs crimson-red. 



The next subfamily or primary division of the 

 Psitticidae upon which we enter, is that of Loriana, 

 so named from the beautiful Scarlet-coloured Lories, 

 natives of continental India and its islands, and 

 which appear to constitute one of its typical forms 



L 



