J56 GENUS MICROGLOSSUS. 



tention has hitherto been paid to the natural habits 

 of these curious birds. They are said to feed upon 

 bulbous roots, as well as other fruits, or rather the 

 seeds of fruits. They are seldom seen in flocks of 

 any magnitude, but keep more in family parties. In 

 disposition they are wild and fierce, and do not ex- 

 liihit that docility and aptness for imitation so con- 

 fcpicuous in other members of the family. 



The subject of our next illustration, though bear- 

 ing in many respects a strong resemblance to the 

 preceding genus, is distinguished from it by the pe- 

 culiar form of its tongue, which is tubular and ex- 

 tensile, and by the form and contour of its bill. The 

 upper mandible is of great size, and considerably im- 

 pressed, the tomia or cutting edges being bidentate 

 or doubly sinuated. The under mandible is small 

 in proportion, with a single emargination. The or- 

 bits and cheeks are naked, and the head is adorned 

 with a long crest, generally pendent, but which can 

 be erected, and is composed of long narrow acuminate 

 feathers. The legs are naked a little way above the 

 tarsal joint, the tarsi themselves are short. The tail 

 is of mean length and even. It constitutes the type 

 of Geoffroy's genus Microglossus, which is retained 

 by Wagler in his Monographia Psittacorum. In 

 Kuhl's Conspectus, it is the representative of his- sec- 

 tion Probosciger, and he considers it as a form in- 

 termediate between the Maccaws and Cockatoo, but 

 our present ignorance of the natural habits of this 



