BIRDS. 73 



the species are few in number, one or other of them occurs 

 in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, and the one above 

 named ( Yunz torquilla), a rare bird in Britain, is,well known 

 in the northern parts of India. 



The magftificent family of the parrots is the last of the 

 scansorial order to which we shall here allude. Abundant 

 in almost every region of the torrid zone, and in the New 

 World extending from the shores of the Ohio to the Straits 

 of Magellan, this tribe, though presenting considerable 

 differences of structure, is yet 'strongly marked by many 

 characters common to all the species. The strong, hard, 

 curved, solid bills, surrounded at the base by a . membrane 

 in which the nostrils are perforated,^-the thick, roundefd, 

 fleshy tongue, — the inferior larynx of a complicated struc- 

 ture, and pro\'ided on each side with peculiar muscles, — the 

 splendid plumage, exhibiting every imaginable hue, — and 

 the extremely imitative and very garrulous habits' of these 

 birds, distinguish them from every other tribe. The genus 

 Psittacus of Linnffius forms a vast assemblage of species 

 from every country of the world, excepting the compara- 

 ■ tively cold and cloudy clime of Europe, and has been par- 

 titioned into numerous sections or sub-genera by modem 

 observers.* 



The most anciently known of the parrot race belong to 

 the genus Palctornis of Mr. Vigors. To this section per- 

 tain the Alexandrine paroquet, and others of the long-tailed 

 species, distinguished by their elegance of form, their ruby- 

 coloured beaks, their semicircled necks, and the rich verdure 

 of their plumage. The one above named is native to India 

 and Ceylon, and derives its designation from the fact, real 

 or supposed, of its having been first transported from 

 Asiatic countries by Alexander the Great. The most dis- 

 tinguishing characters of the species consist in the broad 



* For representations of these gorgeous birds, see Vaillant's Histoire 

 Naturelle des Perroquets, Swainson's Zoological Illustrations, Tem- 

 minck's Planches Coloriees, and Illustrations of the Family of the Psit- 

 tacidae by E. Lear. Consult also, for a knowledge of the subdivisions, 

 Kuhl's Monasraph of the genus in the tenth volumeof Nova Act. Acad. 

 Nat. Cur., Observations on the Psittacids by Mr. Vigors in the second 

 volume of .the Zoological Journal, a paper by that accomplished orni- 

 thologist, in conjunction with Dr. Horsfield, in the fifteenth volume of the 

 Linn^an Transactions, and volume fourteenth, part first, of Shaw's Gen- 

 eral Zoology, as continued by Mr. Stevens. 

 Vol. III.— G 



