PARROT. 



40-5 



Latham's Parakeet (P. Lathami), is an Australian 

 bird, only eight inches in length. The general plumage 

 is shining green varied with bluish, on the head. A 

 small space round the eye, the bastard wing, and the 

 upper coverts of the tail, are red, with bluish borders 

 to the feathers, the under tail coverts are yellow. The 

 greater wing coverts are blue, some of them bor- 

 dered with white. The under coverts are yellow, the 

 bill and feet are brown. 



Many-coloured Parakeet (P. multicolor], is also an 

 Australian species, about eleven inches in length. 

 The upper p:-irts*are green, passing into olive on the 

 back. The front is yellow, the middle of the cheeks 

 red, the shoulders orange, arid the bastard wing and 

 under coverts of the wings blue. The quills are black, 

 with blue at their outer margins. The tail feathers 

 green, variegated with bright blue and black, the belly 

 is reddish yellow, and the bill and feet ash-colour. 



yew Zealand Parakeet (P. Xone Zclandice), is 

 green on the upper part, and the same on the under, 

 but a shade lighter. The crown of the head, the 

 eye-spots and the sides of the rump are red. The 

 quills are blue on their external edges. The length 

 about nine or ten inches. 



Such are a few of the wedge-tailed parakeets by 

 way of specimens ; and though we were to go through 

 the whole of the long list, we should be able to give 

 but little information further than an enumeration of 

 mere varieties of colour. From the structure of their 

 wings and tail, and the comparative lightness yet 

 firmness of their bodies, we have every reason to 

 believe that these are birds which act their part in 

 nature with no inconsiderable energy. In point of 

 disposition they appear to be intermediate between 

 the maccaw parakeets, and that subdivision of the 

 eastern parakeets which have the produced feathers 

 in the tail ; being less wild and fierce than the former, 

 and less gentle than the latter. They are not birds 

 of much resource, neither are they capable of much 

 education. We are but little acquainted with the 

 use of them in wild nature, but from their numbers and 

 their general distribution, we must presume that their 

 use is considerable. 



PARROTS. The parrots, properly so called, are in 

 some respects the most interesting birds of the whole 

 family. They are by no means the handsomest, 

 either in their forms or in the colours of their plumage. 

 They are, however, the most dexterous climbers, and 

 some of them at least are the most susceptible of being 

 taught to articulate words. (The general characters 

 which distinguish them from the rest of the family are 

 but few in number, but they are well marked and 

 easily observed. They have the tail short and squared 

 over at the extremity ; the bill very stout, and greatly 

 hooked in the upper mandible ; the face entirely 

 covered with feathers, and the body thick and strong, 

 an<f very muscular. Their tarsi are short but stout, 

 and they have great action with the toes as well as 

 with the bill. There is much oblique motion at the 

 articulation of the toes, so that the foot can be turned 

 almost directly outwards, and for this reason they are 

 but ill adapted for walking on the ground, but their 

 climbing is very dexterous and amusing. They are, 

 properly speaking, tree birds, and use their wings 

 much more in leaping from branch to branch, v hen 

 the distance is too great for the stretch of their bill 

 and feet, than they do in flying far distances ; but they 

 can fly when necessary, though not very rapidly, or 

 very far upon a stretch. Among the branches ot the 



trees their wings are very clever, and ready to act in 

 a comparatively small space. Their plumage is of an 

 exceedingly firm texture and difficult to be ruffled ; 

 and the feathers of the neck are also firm and closely, 

 individually rounded off at their extremities, and 

 overlaying each other like distinct scales. This 

 structure of plumage adapts them well for scram- 

 bling over among the leaves and twigs of trees, 

 where they have their constant habitation, and find 

 the greater part of their food. As is the case with 

 the members of some others of the subdivisions, the 

 parrots are but ill defined. The greater number ol 

 them are natives of tropical America, where the trees 

 furnish them with an ample supply of food. There 

 is one, however, which is a native of Africa, though 

 there are some distinctions between it and the Ame- 

 rican ones, in the air of the body, the form of the bill 

 and head, a certain portion of the face being naked, 

 the general tint of the plumage, and several othei 

 characteristics. Of the species enumerated in many oi 

 the catalogues, some are doubtful, and others belong 

 to different sections of the family. On this accounl 

 and also in order to keep our notice within limits as 

 moderate as possible, we shall advert only to two oi 

 three of the leading ones ; and as most people are fami- 

 liar with them, even they will not require much notice. 

 Common Gity Parrot (P. erythacus). This bird 

 has but little to boast of the gaudiness of its plumage 

 being clad in sober grey with the exception of the 

 tail feathers which are red ; but still it is the parrot 

 par excellence with those who are fond of the loqua- 

 city of these birds after they have been taught to 

 speak. The whole plumage is soft ashen-grey, ap- 

 proaching to smoke colour, with the exception of the 

 tail whicli is red, and sometimes brownish, the belly 

 which is whitish, and the tips of the quills which are 

 blackish ; the naked space around and in front of the 

 eye is whitish, and appears to be covered with a scaly 

 powder, which the bird is very fond of having dis- 

 turbed by gentle scratching; the bill and feet are 

 black or blackish, contrasting pretty strongly with the 

 sober colour of the general plumage. This bird, how- 

 ever, differs from all the American ones, which ought 

 perhaps to be considered as the typical parrots, and 

 also from the greater number, if not the whole, of the 

 short-tailed birds of the parrot family, which are found 

 in the eastern countries, in not having the slightest 

 trace of green, or indeed any tendency to green, in its 

 plumage. Some specimens have part of the feathers 

 brownish, and others have them inclining to red ; but 

 we believe that no instance has occurred in which any 

 trace of green, of blue, or of yellow, has appeared 

 upon them. If difference of appearance, difference 

 oi colour, difference in the shape of the body, and oi 

 the head and bill, are to be considered a sufficient 

 ground of generic distinction ; then it is clear that 

 this bird ought not to be placed in the same genus 

 with the green parrots of South America. It is a 

 native of western Africa, where it inhabits the thick 

 forests in the richer parts of the country, and is un- 

 derstood to subsist entirely on wild fruits. Its man- 

 ners in a state of nature are but little known, as is the 

 case with every bird of the tropical forests. It is 

 understood, however, to nestle in the holes of decayed 

 trees, and seek no materials for its nest except the 

 powder into which the wood has been reduced by 

 the progress of natural decay, or the ravages of the 

 wood-devouring insects. We are not sure that this 

 part of its economy has been much observed in the 

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