PARROTS. 191 



The soft and thick tongue so characteristic of 

 the Parrots, is doubtless a highly sensitive organ 

 of taste. It is covered, like that of the Mamma- 

 lia, with papillce, and being moistened by a con- 

 stant secretion of saliva, they are able to select 

 and taste different kinds of food. In some of 

 the Australian species, which suck the nectar of 

 flowers, the tongue, while retaining the thick 

 form and fleshy structure common to the Family, 

 is distinguished by the peculiarity of terminating 

 in a number of very delicate and close-set fila- 

 ments, which can be protruded and expanded like 

 a brush. Mr. Caley recoils * that one of these 

 species (Trichoglossus hcemalfdus, VIG.) in confine- 

 ment, on bf e g shewn a coloured drawing of a 

 flower, apj^ J. the tip of its tongue to it, as if .it 

 would siji i\ it; and on anothejc occasion made a 

 similar attempt on seeing a piece of printed cotton 

 furniture. 



The Parrots are adorned with the richest and 

 most brilliant hues, of which a soft and lustrous 

 green may be considered as the most prevalent, 

 varied, however, with scarlet, yellow, and blue, in 

 profusion, usually arranged in broad and well- 

 defined masses. Though susceptible of increased 

 lustre from the play of light, particularly in such 

 as are of green hues, the plumage of the Parrots 

 does not reflect any proper metallic radiance. 

 They are widely scattered over the warmer re- 

 gions of the globe, extending far into the southern 

 temperate zone, but scarcely appearing beyond the 

 tropic on the north side of the Equator. The 

 species, , which are exceedingly numerous, are for 

 the most part very local ; every large island, in 

 the East and West Indies, and even in the groups 



