310 NATURAL HISTORY. 



region, being confined to Australia and the Molucca Islands. The bill is higher than it is broad, with 

 a very distinct indentation of each side of the cutting edge of the mandible, the tip of the bill short, 

 rather strong and perpendicular, the head crested in all except the Pygmy Parrots (Nasiterna). This 

 family contains at once the largest and the smallest of the Parrots. 



THE GREAT PALM COCKATOO (Microglossus* atcrrimits-fi. 



This is one of the most powerful of all the Parrot tribe, measuring about twenty-four inches in 

 length, and having a bill of unusual thickness and power. Its black plumage also renders it a con- 

 spicuous species, the only relief to this sombre colouring being the greyish crest and the dull crimson 

 cheeks. Its home is New Guinea, but it is also found in the Cape York Peninsula in Australia, 

 where it was discovered by John Macgillivray during the voyage of the Rattlesnake. He writes 

 as follows respecting it : " This very fine bird, which is not uncommon in the vicinity of Cape York, 

 was usually found in the densest scrub among the tops of the tallest trees, but was occasionally seen in 

 the open forest land perched on the largest of the Eucalypti, apparently resting on its passage from one 

 belt of trees or patch of scrub to another. Like the Black Cockatoos, or Calyptorhynchi, it flies slowly 

 and usually but a short distance. In November, 1849, the period of our last visit to Cape York, it was 

 always found in pairs, very shy, and difiicult of approach. Its cry is merely a low short whistle of a 

 single note, which may be represented by the letters ' ffweet-Hweet.' The stomach of the first one killed 

 contained a few small pieces of quartz and triturated fragments of palm-cabbage, -with which the crop 

 of another specimen was completely filled ; and the idea immediately suggests itself, that the powerful 

 bill of this bird is a most fitting instrument for stripping off the leaves near the summits of the 

 Seaforthia elegans and other palms to enable it to arrive at the central tender shoot." 



THE PYGMY PAEEOTS (Nasiterna). 



These Parrots are represented by seven little manikins which are found in New Guinea and the 

 adjacent islands, each particular island possessing its own peculiar species. Not one of these little birds 

 exceeds a Sparrow in size, the largest being a little over three inches and a half in length. Owing to 

 their small size and the resemblance of the green colouring to the forests they inhabit, they are not 

 easily seen, and until recent years were very hard to procure. In the island of Mafoor in the Bay of 

 Geelvink, N.W., New Guinea, Baron von Rosenberg says that he found it common near Roemsaro, 

 and several specimens, both alive and dead, were brought to him by the natives. They bred there 

 in January and February, nesting in hollow trees and laying two eggs, the size of those of the 

 English Bottle Titmouse. Their food consists of fruit. 



THE AMAZON PAEEOTS (Androgloss'ma?) .\ 



This, the second sub-family, consists of the true Parrots, of which the ordinary Grey Parrot (Psittacus 

 erythacus) is the type. It also includes all the Green Parrots of America, which are called Amazons, 

 as well as the Lories (Eclectus) and Love-birds (Agapornis). The head is moderately smooth, without 

 any highly-developed crest, as in the Cockatoos, and the tail is short, or of only moderate length. The 

 tail-feathers are generally broad and obtuse, in a few widening at the tip, or sharp at the end. 

 In the genus Prioniturus, which inhabits the Philippine Islands, and some of the Moluccas, 

 the two centre feathers have the shafts produced, and ending in a small spatule, or racket. 



THE AMAZONS (Chrysotis). 



These Parrots are entirely American, and ai*e the only birds of the New World which can compete in 

 talking powers with the African Grey Parrots, who, however, far surpass their American relatives. 

 About thirty species of Amazon are known, all of them confined within the limits of the Neotropical 

 region, which comprises the whole of Central and Southern America, south of an imaginary line drawn 

 through Northern Mexico. The West India islands are also included in this area, and most of them 



* Mixpos, small ; yMawra, a tongue. t Very black. J >"ip, a man ; yAwoo-a, a tongue. XP V <TS) S<d<L 5 " ? . <i n ear. 



