320 NATURAL HISTORY. 



THE BRUSH-TONGUED PARROTS.* 



The Brush-tongued Lorikeets are all birds of very beautiful colouring, and are mostly found 

 in Australia, the Moluccas, some few species extending through the Oceanic Islands. All seem 

 to be very similar in their habits, an account of which is given by Mr. Gould. He says: "This 

 arboreal group of honey-eating Lorikeets, if not so numerous in species as the seed-feeding Parrakeets, 

 is individually as abundant, and more universally dispersed, being found in every part of Australia 

 yet visited. In their structure, habits, food, and mode of nidification, no two groups of the same 

 family can be more widely different than these forms : the pencilled tongue, the diminutive stomach, 

 thick skin, tough flesh, and foetid odour of the Trichoglossi presenting a decided contrast to the simple 

 tongue, capacious crop and stomach, thin skin, delicate flesh, and freedom from odour of the Platycerci; 

 besides which, the Trichoglossi possess a strong os furcatorium, which bone is wanting in the Platycerci. 

 Hence, while the Trichoglossi are powerful, swift, and arrow-like in their flight, the Platycerci are 

 feeble, pass through the air in a succession of undulations near the ground, and never fly to any great 

 distance. The mode in which the two groups approach, alight upon, and quit the trees is also remark- 

 ably different the Trichoglossi dashing among and alighting upon the branches simultaneously and 

 with the utmost rapidity, and quitting them in like manner, leaving the deafening sound of their 

 thousand voices echoing through the woods ; while the Platycerci rise to the branch after their 

 undulating flight, and leave them again in a quiet manner, no sound being heard but their inward 

 piping note. The eggs of the Trichoglossi arc from two to four in number ; those of the others are 

 more numerous." 



THE NESTORS (Nestor). 



These Parrots, which are only found in New Zealand, are generally placed with the other Brush- 

 tongued Parrots. " In all Parrots the fleshy tongue ends anteiiorly in a dilated portion, supported by a 

 nai-rower neck. This tip is much like the end of a human finger, as mentioned by most observers ; and 

 its function is similar also, for it is employed by the bird as a third prehensile organ in connection with 

 the upper and lower beak, any solid substance being held by the tongue and upper beak, while the 

 mandible is freed to give another bite. Continuing the simile of the finger, the tip is 

 directed forwai'ds with the nail-like portion downwards, the part corresponding to the 

 free edge of the nail appearing along the lower margin of the anterior rounded surf ace. t 

 In the Trichoglossi, this ' nail,' or horny plate, is stated to be present ; but on the 

 superior surface of the tongue, between the lateral edges of the unguis, or nail, there is 

 an arrangement of retroverted papillae, forming a spinous covering, and their mechanism 

 is such that when the tongue is protruded beyond the mouth to grasp any object, the 

 papillae stand upright, or are even directed somewhat forward. In Nestor," continues 

 Professor Garrod, " there are no papillae of this description ; but the tongue is here, as 

 Dr. Buller says, ' soft, rounded on the edges, with a broad central groove,' and it is as 

 smooth as in other Parrots. Therefore, the Kaka Parrot cannot in this point be said to 

 TONGUE OF approach the Trichoglossini (badly so called). The peculiarity of the tongue of Nestor 

 NESTOR, consists in the fact that the interior edge of the unguis, or nail, always free (though for 

 a very short distance) and jagged in the other birds of the class, is here prolonged 

 forwards beyond the tips of the tongue for about one-tenth of an inch, as a delicate fringe of hairs 

 with a crescentic contour. In the living bird the mouth is moist, as in the Lories, and not, as in the 

 Cockatoos and others, dry and scaly." 



The members of the genus Nestor are entirely confined to New Zealand, the species of Philip 

 Island (Nestor productus) being now extinct. Their habits, like those of all New Zealand birds, 

 are sufficiently curious, one of them, known as the " Kea " (JV. notabilis), actually feeding on raw flesh, 

 as is noticed by Dr. Buller : " Those that frequent the sheep stations appear to live almost exclusively 

 on flesh. They claim the sheep's heads that are thrown out from the slaughter-shed, and pick them 

 perfectly clean, leaving nothing but the bones." An eye-witness described this operation to Dr. 

 Hector as follows : " Perching itself on the sheep's head or other offal, the bird proceeds to tear off" 



* Trichoglossi. t Professor Garrod in Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1872, p. 787. 



