CLIMBEUS. 303 



PTERocLossrs, 77%. — Aracari, Buff. 



The bill not so tbick as the head, and invested with a more solid horn; 

 their size is less, and tlie ground of their plumage green with some red 

 or yellow on the throat and breast*. 



PS5TTACUS, Lin. 



The Parrots have a stout, hard, solid bill, rounded on all sides and en- 

 veloped at base by a membrane in which the nostrils are pierced, and a 

 thick fleshy and rounded tongue; two circumstances which give them the 

 greatest facility in imitating the humaa voice. Their inferior larvnx, 

 which is complicaced and furnished on each side with its three muscles, 

 also contributes to this facility. Their vigorous jaws are set in motion 

 by a greater number of muscles than is found in other birds. Their in- 

 testines are very long, and they have no caecum. They feed on all sorts 

 of fruit, climb among the branches of trees by the aid of their bill and 

 claws, and build their nests in the cavities of trees. Their voice is natu- 

 rally harsh and disagreeable, and they are almost universally ornamented 

 with the brightest colours, hardly any of them being found beyond the 

 torrid zone. They exist however in both continents, the species of 

 course differing in each. Every large ioland even has its peculiar species, 

 the short wings of these birds not alJov.ing them to cross any great extent 

 of water. The Parrots, consequently, are very numerous; they are sub- 

 divided by tlie forms of their tails and some other characters. 



Among those which have a long cuneiform tail, we first distinguish 



Ara, Kuhl. 



The Aras, or Maccaws. whose cheeks are divested of feathers. They 

 are American species, most commonly very large, and their plumage 

 extremely brilliant, on account of which many of them are sent alive to 

 Europe-f. 



The other long-tailed Parrots have the common name of 



CORNURUS, Kuhl, 

 Or Paroquets. Le Vaillant divides them into the 



Ara-Paroquets, 

 Wliich have a naked space round the eye ; they inhabit America like the 



' * Ramph. viridis, Enl. 727, 72S, Vaill. 16, M \— aracari, Enl. 1G6, Vaill. 10, 11, 

 Vieill. Galer. Zd;— piper ivoms, L., or CuUIc. WagJer, Enl. 577, 729, Vaill. 13 and 14; 

 —Plerogl. sidcatus, Swains. Zool. 111. 44, Col. :i56;—picatus, Albin. II, 25;— Az- 

 zara:, Vaill. Suppl. A; — inscriptus, Swains. Zool. 111.90; — 6a!7/o«i, Vaill. 18; — macuU- 

 rosir!.s, VaiU. 15, and Suppl. A A. 



t Psitl. viacao, L., Vaiil. 1; — Ps. aracanga, Enl. 12, Ya.\\\. 2 \—Ps. tricolor, Vaill. 

 r> ; — Ps. hyacinthinus, Lath., or Auodorhynchus Maiimiliani, Spix, XI; — Ps. ararauna, 

 Enl. 36; — Ps. mllitaris, Vaill. 4; — Ps. severus, Vaill. 8, 9, 10; — Ps. macawuanna, Enl. 

 8G4, Vaill. 7; — Arara purpureo-dorsalis, Spix, XXIV. 



X Ps. guyamiensis, Enl. 167, 407; Vaill. 14, 15; — Ps. squamosus, Shaw, Miscell. 

 U,(i\;—Ps. vittattis, Vjiill. 17;— Pi. versicolor, Enl. 144, Vaill. 16;— P<. solstilialis, 

 Vaill. 16 — 19; oi Aratlnga chryso-cephalus, Spix, XIV. Hii Aratiiiga liUeus is a 

 varietv. 



