LOVE-BIRDS, 



129 



popular and scientific titles on account of the attachment the pairs appear to 

 entertain for one another. Mr. W. T. Greene remarks, however, that a single bird 

 will live in captivity for years without any apparent signs of pining, and will 

 actually become more attached to its owner than if it formed one of a pair. And 

 he adds that the reason why if one of a pair dies the other generally soon follows 

 its companion, is that the constitutions of the two have been undermined by the 

 hardships of the voyage to Europe; thus demolishing the pretty fable that the 

 death of the survivor of a pair is due to inconsolable grief at the loss of its mate. 



The love - birds, of which the 

 largest does not exceed 6J inches in 

 length, differ from all the other 

 members of the subfamily, in that the 

 thick and deep beak has no ridge 

 along the inferior surface of the 

 symphysis of its lower mandible ; and 

 they are further distinguished by the 

 shortness of the tail, which is marked 

 with a black band near the extremity. 

 Their skeletons are peculiar, in that 

 the furcula is absent. In the latter 

 respect as well as in their small size, 

 and the occasional difference in the 

 coloration of the two sexes, the love- 

 birds resemble the American par- 

 rotlets (p. 119), with which they 

 have frequently been classed. They 

 may, however, be at once distin- 

 guished from the latter by their 

 rounded instead of pointed tail- 

 feathers. The love-birds, of which 



there are seven species, are confined to Africa south of the Sahara and Madagascar, 

 although they have been introduced into the Mascarene Islands. The rosy-faced 

 species (Agapornis roseicollis) belongs to a group in which the rump and upper 

 tail-coverts are blue, and the under wing - coverts green. In both sexes the 

 general colour is green, becoming yellowish beneath ; the rump and upper tail- 

 coverts being light blue, the forehead bright red, and the sides of the face and 

 throat rose-colour. This species inhabits South- Western Africa from Angola to 

 Namaqualand, and is also reported from the opposite side of the continent, in 

 the neighbourhood of the Limpopo. The two sexes are almost undistinguishable 

 in this species. 



Andersson writes that these love-birds are common in Namaqualand, and are 

 met with in small flocks, never far removed from the vicinity of water. Their 

 flight is rapid ; and while on the wing they utter their sharp cry. Their food 

 consists of berries and large berry-like seeds. Instead of making nests for 

 themselves, they take possession of those of other birds; but Andersson was 

 unable to ascertain whether they did so by dispossessing the rightful owners, or 



VOL. iv. 9 



GREY-HEADED LOVE-BIRDS. 



