114 THE FAUNA OF 
most brightly coloured of animals, which haunt the 
forests of New Guinea and the neighbouring regions. 
They spend much of their time in the trees, to whose 
branches they cling easily with their strong feet. 
Among Picarian birds a whole division possesses the 
climbing foot, that is one in which the first and fourth 
toes are directed backwards, while the second and third 
point forwards, and almost all these are arboreal birds. 
They include the widely distributed woodpeckers, found 
in tropical no less than in temperate forests, the jaca- 
mars, handsome birds found in the South American 
forests, and the toucans with enormously developed bills 
and bright colouring. The purely frugivorous plantain- 
eaters of Africa differ in that the fourth toe can be 
turned backwards or forwards at will, though the birds 
seem to dwell entirely in the trees. The climbing foot 
is however best developed in the parrots, which are for 
the most part thoroughly arboreal. The legs are short, 
and the short, strong, hooked bill, of which the upper 
portion is hinged as well as the lower, is used in climb- 
ing as well as in cracking hard shells and kernels. 
Parrots are chiefly tropical, but they extend much 
further to the south of the tropic of Capricorn 
than to the north of that of Cancer. As is well 
known, their colouring is often very striking, green 
predominating, as it often does among arboreal, fruit- 
eating birds. 
Of the parrots, the crested cockatoos are Australian, 
and the gorgeously coloured macaws with their long 
tails South American. The little love-birds are African, 
as is also the familiar grey parrot with a red tail. The 
parakeets are found in Africa, India, and Australia. 
Of almost all parrots it may be said, as of the fruit- 
eating mammals, that they show a marked preference 
