CHAPTER VII. 



THE PARROTS AND PIGEONS. 



THE Parrots are so different from all other birds that 

 all ornithologists are agreed in giving them an order to 

 themselves. They vary a great deal in size and colour 

 but are always easily recognized. Their beak is exceed- 

 ingly short and thick, and very much hooked ; the upper 

 jaw being moveable as well as the lower, in order to give 

 sufficient play under the circumstances. Their shanks 

 are very short, and, like the toes, covered with many very 

 small wart-like scales ; the toes are in pairs, the outer 

 front toe being turned backwards. 



Most of them use the feet as hands, holding pieces of 

 food in one while they eat it. Another very characteristic 

 habit of Parrots, and one almost confined to them, is the 

 use of the beak as a third leg in climbing ; indeed, the way 

 in which they clamber about the boughs is very charac- 

 teristic. As a rule, they keep to the trees, and when on 

 the ground move with an awkward waddle. They are good 

 flyers, but the style of flight differs a good deal. Their 

 nests are almost invariably in holes of trees, &c., without 

 any lining ; and the eggs are always pure white. The young 

 are usually naked at first, and fledge off very like the 

 parents. When small, they are fed by the old birds from 

 the crop, and as they will gape for food, are easy to rear. 



