132 



PARROTS. 



ants' eggs. Mr. Greene says that if several are kept in a cage, they will hano- 

 suspended side by side from the roof for hours at a time, in which position thej- 

 will caress and feed one another. 



The Broadtail Group. 



Subfamily Platyckrcin^. 



The last subfamily of the Psittacidce is represented by the broadtails, grass- 

 parraquets, and their allies, and is entirely confined to Australia, New Zealand, 



ROSE HILL BROADTAIL (J nat. size). 



New Caledonia, and the Society Islands. They are distinguished from all the 

 preceding groups, with the exception of the parrotlets and love-birds, by the 

 absence of the furcula ; ^ while in the skull the ring round the eye is incomplete. 

 The tail is rather long, graduated, and often pointed ; and the beak of moderate 

 size, and never red in colour. The cere is small, merely surrounding the nostrils ; 

 the beak short and thick, with the lower mandible generally concealed by the 

 feathers of the cheeks ; and the plumage much variegated. 



1 The single species of Naunodes is an exceptiou in this respect, while it also differs from all other Psittacidce 

 in its brush-like tongue. -^ - . 



