THE PARROTS. 309 



rocks, and that they are as a rule bad nest-builders. The greatest exception to the above description 

 of the nesting of these birds is met with in the family of Goatsuckers (Caprimulgidat), some of whom 

 lay their eggs on the ground, the eggs being beautifully marbled with streaks and spots. 



Within, this great Picarian order there are two large sub-orders, called respectively the Scansorial 

 and the Fissirostral* Picaritz. The Scansorial birds are also sometimes known as the Zygodactylse,t 

 or yoke-footed birds, because they have their toes arranged in pairs, two in front and two behind, and 

 their name of Scansores is given to them because most of them are climbing birds, and run up trees and 

 rocks with great facility, though in different ways. Parrots, for instance, use their bills in climbing 

 from branch to branch, while Woodpeckers have very powerful feet and stiffened tail-feathers, which 

 support them as they cling to the bark of the trees, the bill being chiefly employed to prise off the 

 bark in order to get at the insects underneath. Cuckoos do not climb trees in the same manner as the 

 Woodpeckers, though they have true zygodactyle feet : the present writer has, however, seen a 

 common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) cling with both feet to the trunk of a huge elm while it picked oft' 

 insects from the bark. It must not be supposed, however, that the above are the only birds which 

 climb trees, for among the true Passeres, or perching birds, there occur such birds as the Dendroco- 

 hiptidce in South America, who have stiffened tails exactly as the Woodpeckers, while the Tree- 

 creepers are just as expert as the last-named birds, and yet cannot be placed in the same order as the 

 Scaiisorial (Picarice), for they possess a simple passerine foot, with three toes in front and one behind. 



The Fissirostres, .or wide-gaping birds, are also called Gressorial Picarise, as their toes are more or 

 less connected together, which gives them a very flat sole to the foot. They generally hunt for their 

 food from some selected spot, ordinarily a post or a dead bough, whence they take flights after 

 their prey, usually returning to the same spot to devour it. Their flight is active and swift, their gape 

 extremely large, and the head correspondingly big, and in many instances clumsy and ungainly. The 

 feet are generally small and weak. 



SUB-ORDER I. ZYGODACTYLE. 

 FAMILY I. THE PARROTS (Psittaci). 



Just as the Monkeys have been placed at the head of the Mammalia on account of their 

 high development, so the Parrots, from their general cleverness, and especially on account 

 of the facility with which they can talk, have been considered the highest order of birds, 

 and placed at the beginning of the class. It is impossible for some people to avoid 

 the conclusion that these birds think and reason, and the ct, pi-opos or sometimes mal du 

 propos way in which they introduce speeches, coupled with the look of wisdom which they 

 assume while being spoken to, seems to show that the brain is being employed in thinking. A friend 

 in Manchester told the writer of a parrot-show in the North of England, where the talking powers of 

 each bird were made the subject of a prize competition. Several of the birds had exhibited their 

 prowess, and at last the cover was removed from the cage of a Grey Parrot, who at once exclaimed, on 

 seeing the company to which he was suddenly introduced, " By Jove ! what a lot of Parrots ! " an 

 observation which gained him the prize at once. Instances of famous talking birds might be 

 multiplied by the hundred, and it is wonderful to read some of the stories which have been related of 

 Parrots, whose fame has been recorded in many popular works, leaving no doubt that these 

 birds often possess the power of reason of a very high order ; at the same time, it must be con- 

 fessed that many of the Corvine birds, such as Ravens, Jackdaws, and Magpies, do not fall far short of 

 their Scansorial friends. 



The Parrots are divided into two large sections, firstly the Parrots proper (Psittaci jyroprii), and 

 secondly the straight-billed Parrots (Psittaci orthognathii). These two sections together contain six 

 families, of which five belong to the first and one to the second. The true Parrots have a powerful 

 and swollen bill, especially as regards the lower mandible, which is much inflated, curved, and flattened 

 in front, the cutting edges (tomium) indented just behind their tip. The sub-family which has to 

 be noticed first are the CamptolophincK or Cockatoos, which are birds entirely of the Australian 



* Fissus, cleft ; rostrum, a beak. f frtov, a yoke ; &'',^u\ot, a toe. J opflbs, straight; -yj/aflos, a jaw, 



Ka/uTT-rw, to bend ; xb^or, a crest. 

 134 



