COCKATOOS. 



Ill 



imitate, in a disconnected and rambling fashion, it is true, the chattering of his 

 compatriot, the budgerigar, or the warbling of his rival the canary." These birds 

 will breed freely in confinement ; and they have the advantage of an equable and 

 contented disposition, which enables them to live peaceably with the other inhabit- 

 ants of an aviary, whether great or small. Indeed, so easy-going in disposition is 

 the cockatiel, that it will frequently allow itself to be hustled about and bullied by 

 its smaller cousin, the budgerigar, the description of which comes later on in the 

 chapter. 



The Typical Parrots. 



Family PsiTTAClDJE. 



With the exception of 

 the peculiar owl -parrot of 

 New Zealand, the whole of 

 the remaining members of the 

 order are included in a single 

 family, which comprises a far 

 larger number of genera and 

 species than either of the 

 others. The group is one very 

 diflBcult to define; but, with 

 the exception of the Uvsean 

 parrot and a kindred species, 

 all its members are distin- 

 guished from the cockatoos by 

 the absence of a crest; while 

 in the skull the ring of bone 

 is generally imperfect, and if 

 complete it always lacks the 

 posterior process characteris- 

 ing that part in the cockatoos. 

 The members of this family 

 have a very wide geographical 

 distribution, ranging over the 

 whole of the tropical regions, 

 and being the only represen- 

 tatives of the order met with in Africa and America. In the Australasian region 

 they are found in association with all the other five families. The family is divided 

 into six subfamilies. 



Subfamily Xasiterninje. 



p. New Guinea is a country of strange creatures, but none of its 



living products are more remarkable than the pigmy parrots, some 



of which are actually smaller than an English sparrow. These birds have their 



beaks shaped as in the cockatoos, with a broad band-like cere, which becomes 



PIGMY PARROT (nat. size). 



