THE STRAIGHT-BILLED PAREOTS. 



319 



river, in washing against these deposits, has in some cases formed nearly perpendicular banks, about 

 six to eight feet high. At one spot, about two feet below the surface, several rounded holes were 

 observed, and the dog tried in vain to enter them. After carefully scenting the ground, he began to 

 scratch the surface with his paws, and soon succeeded in widening the entrance sufficiently to admit 

 his body, and he immediately afterwards emerged with the bird in his mouth. There is no doubt in 

 my own mind that this hole at least had been excavated ; and the burrowing faculty of the bird may 

 be considered so far established. On a flat in the valley of the Makarora, the dog brought one from 

 the interior of a hollow drift-tree, which was lying amongst sedges and grasses in an old river channel. 

 There never was more than one individual in the hole, although very often, within twenty or thirty 

 yards of it, another specimen would be scented out by the dog, the two being generally of opposite 

 sexes. At night-time, in visiting our camp fire, they generally came in pairs, the two being succes- 

 sively caught by my dog, a single or sometimes a repeated angry growl from the bird informing us 

 that he had hold of it. These circumstances lead me to conclude that din-ing the day each inhabits 

 separately its own hole, and that only after dark do they meet for feeding and for social intercourse." 



In size, the Owl Parrot is about twenty-six inches in length, and is of a dark sap-green colour, 

 varied and mottled with dark brown and yellow ; the face is lighter, being darker brown, the ear- 

 coverts mixed with yellow ; the belly and under tail-coverts, as well as the wing-lining, are rather 

 brighter yellow than the rest of the under surface. The tint of green varies a good deal : from light 

 yellowish to dark sap-green. 



THE STRAIGHT-BILLED PARROTS (Psittaci orthognathi).* 



In this second section of the Parrots only one family is known, all the members of which are 

 easily recognisable by their straightened bills, the lower mandible being gently compressed, and not 



bulged out, with a nearly straight tip, the cutting edges with scarcely any indentation. With the 

 exception of the Lorikeets (Loriculus), membei-s of which are found in India and the Indo-Malayan 

 region, the whole family is Australian, being confined to that continent and the adjacent Molucca 

 Islands, New Zealand, and the islands of Polynesia. 



* optfo',, straight ; yraOo?, jaw. 



