190 PLATVOERCINJE. 



approach is shewn in several species. Thus, it is 

 strongly indicated hy the resemblance the Palieor, 

 Barrabandi, an Australian species, which stands 

 upon the confines of the group, bears to some of the 

 less typical Broad-tails, in which that member in 

 part loses its broad and depressed form. It is also 

 visible in the wings and tail of that lovely species, 

 the Nanodes discolor, in which the second, third, and 

 fourth quills lose the distinct emarginatioii of the outer 

 web, and the two middle tail-feathers assume, in a 

 great measure, the shape of those peculiar to the Ring- 

 Parrakeets. The connection of the present with the 

 preceding subfamily is supported by some of the Lories, 

 in which the bill is comparatively strong, and the tongue 

 loses in part its peculiar structure,- and its approach 

 to the short and even-tailed Parrots is shewn in the 

 wide and slightly graduated tail of Platycercus sca- 

 pulatus, as well as in the Madagascar species Psitt. 

 nigcr and mascarinus. The members of this fa- 

 mily are distinguished from the rest of the Psitta- 

 cidce, by their slender and elevated tarsi, and the 

 less falcated form of their claws. Their wings also 

 are shorter, and rounded, the first quill-feather be- 

 ing inferior to some of the succeeding ones. In 

 consequence of this formation, their habits are less 

 strictly scansorial than those of the typical Parrots; 

 but the deficiency is amply compensated by the ease 

 and agility with which they move upon the ground, 

 where their actions partake in a great measure of 

 that freedom which distinguishes so many of the 



