132 



PARROTS. 



ants' eggs. Mr. Greene says that if several are kept in a cage, they will hang 

 suspended side by side from the roof for hours at a time, in which position they 

 will caress and feed one another. 



THE BROADTAIL GROUP. 

 Subfamily PLATYCERCIN^E. 



The last subfamily of the Psittacidce is represented by the broadtails, grass- 

 parraquets, and their allies, and is entirely confined to Australia, New Zealand, 



ROSE HILL BROADTAIL (|- liat. size). 



New Caledonia, and the Society Islands. They are distinguished from all the 

 preceding groups, with the exception of the parrotlets and love-birds, by the 

 absence of the f urcula ; l while in the skull the ring round the eye is incomplete. 

 The tail is rather long, graduated, and often pointed ; and the beak of moderate 

 size, and never red in colour. The cere is small, merely surrounding the nostrils ; 

 the beak short and thick, with the lower mandible generally concealed by the 

 feathers of the cheeks ; and the plumage much variegated. 



1 The single species of Naunodes is an exception in this respect, while it also differs from all other Psittacidce 

 in its brush-like tongue. 



