Order IX. PSITTACI. 



Whilst several of the groups here classed as orders, because 

 ornithologists have not yet agreed how they are to be arranged in 

 larger divisions, are really of subordinal rank, the Parrots by 

 general consent stand apart from all other birds, and undoubtedly 

 form an Order by themselves : distinguished by opisthocoelous 

 dorsal vertebrae, combined with aygodactyle feet, and by the upper 

 mandible being loosely articulated to the skull, so as to be move- 

 able. The bill is short, stout, and strongly hooked. The palate 

 is desmognathous. There is a distinct fleshy cere at the base of 

 the bill, as in Birds of Prey. The tongue is thick and fleshy. 

 The deep plantar tendons are galline, as in Coccyges. The ambiens 

 muscle is variable, and so are the carotids. The f urcula is weak and 

 sometimes incomplete. There are no caeca, and the gall-bladder is 

 generally wanting. 



The feathers are furnished with an aftershaft ; the spinal 

 feather-tract is well defined on the neck and forked on the upper 

 back. The oil-gland is usually present and tufted, but is wanting 

 in a few genera. There are twelve tail-feathers except in the 

 Papuan Oreopsittacus, which has 14. Primaries 10. 



All Parrots lay white eggs in a hole, generally excavated by the 

 parent birds, in the trunk or a branch of a tree. There is no nest, 

 the eggs being laid on the wood. Some species, occasionally at 

 all events, make use of hollows not excavated by themselves. The 

 young are hatched naked, and the feathers. remain in the sheaths 

 until the birds are nearly full-grown. 



The Parrots have been very variously divided by different 

 ornithologists, and Garrod (P. Z. S. 1874, p. 594) made the 

 common Indian genus Palceornis the type of a family. But 

 generally Palceornis has been classed in the same family with 

 Psittacus, and this is the arrangement adopted by Salvadori in the 

 British Museum Catalogue. Only three genera are found within 

 Indian limits, and these all belong to one family and subfamily. 



Family PSITTACID^E. 



Key to the Genera. 



Key to the Genera. 



a. Tail long and graduated, longer than wing .... PAL^ORNIS, p. 246. 



b. Tail much shorter than wing. 



a'. Bill swollen at sides, deeper than long .... PSITTINUS, p. 259. 

 b'. Bill compressed, longer than deep LORICULUS, p. 260. 



