TRICHOGLOSSUS. 171 



ly graduated, with the tips of the feathers narrow ; 

 the wings are also narrow and pointed. It consti- 

 tutes Vigors's genus Trichoglossus, and is thus cha- 

 racterized: Bill subelongate, compressed, weak, the 

 inferior mandible slightly convex, longer than high, 

 narrowed towards the tip, with the margins thin and 

 entire; inner surface of the projecting tip of the up- 

 per mandible smooth, or but slightly striated ; tongue 

 furnished near the tip with a pencil of bristly papillae , 

 wings of moderate length, narrow, the first quill 

 longest, the second and third a trifle shorter, the 

 webs entire ; feet, the tarsi short, feathered below 

 the joint ; toes strong, with the soles broad and ex- 

 tended ; the claws greatly falcated, strong and sharp ; 

 tail graduated, with the feathers narrowing towards 

 the point. The members of this genus are birds of 

 elegant form, and some exhibit a great variety and 

 richness of plumage ; they are strictly arboreal and 

 scansorial, as indicated by the form and strength of 

 their feet and claws. In the quality of their food, 

 and the structure of their tongue, they shew their 

 typical station in this representative section of the 

 Tenuirostral Tribe, their principal nutriment being 

 derived from the nectar of flowers ; they also eat or 

 suck the juices of the soft or exterior portion of va- 

 rious fruits, but do not attempt the kernels or actual 

 seeds, which constitute the general and favourite 

 pabulum of the rest of the Psittacidae. In their 

 contour, and the indications of a nuchal collar which 

 several of the species possess, V ve also trace a resem- 



