Typical Parrots 465 



Cockatoo (C. roseicapilla), which has the upper surface gray, deepening into 

 brown on the extremities of the wings and tail, and becoming nearly white on 

 the rump, while the crown is pale rosy-white and the entire lower surface a deep, 

 rich, rosy-red. 



Australian Cockatoo-Parakeet. Passing over the Slender-billed Cocka- 

 toos (Licmetis},oi which there are but two species, both Australian, and so named 

 from the fact that the bill is long, slender, and has the hook of the upper mandi- 

 ble projecting forward, we come to the final member of the subfamily, namely, 

 the Cockatoo-Parakeet or Cocktail (Callopsittacus novtz-hollandice} of Australia, 

 which is distinguished at once by possessing narrow and pointed instead of 

 rounded tail-feathers, the middle pair being much the longer. This bird much 

 resembles the so-called Grass Parakeets, and has often been placed among them, 

 but according to Salvador! it has the anatomical characters of the present group. 

 The plumage is dark gray, becoming lighter on the rump and lemon-yellow at 

 the base of the crest, with the forehead and cheeks yellow, the ear-coverts reddish 

 orange, and a large wing patch of white ; the female is paler than the male; the 

 total length is twelve and a half inches, of which slightly more than half is taken 

 up by the tail. This is a migratory species, spending the nesting season in the 

 southern districts and retiring at its close toward the tropical area. It has an 

 even, easy, though not long protracted flight and goes about in flocks sometimes 

 of very great size, it being, according to Gould, a not unusual circumstance to 

 see hundreds together on the dead branches of the gum trees in the neighborhood 

 of water. It nests in holes of gum and other trees, usually in the vicinity of water, 

 and lays five or six or even more eggs. It makes a very engaging and intelli- 

 gent pet. 



The Typical Parrots (Subfamily Psittacina). This, the largest and most 

 important of the subfamilies, comprises approximately three times as many 

 species as all the others combined, and is the only one represented in the New 

 World. As might be supposed with such a vast concourse of forms, it is 

 extremely difficult to define them by positive characters, but in general terms 

 they may be separated from the Owl-Parrots by the complete sternum, from the 

 Nestors, Lories, and False Lorikeets by the file-like surface of the under 

 portion of the hook of the bill, and from the Cockatoos (with the exception 

 of the genus Nymphicus) by the absence of a crest. They are capable of 

 division into half a dozen or more fairly well marked groups, which have often 

 been called subfamilies; but since the entire group is only accorded subfamily 

 rank by Dr. Gadow, whom we are following, it is impossible to give them this 

 designation. The first of these groups embraces only the Pygmy Parrots; the 

 second includes the American Sharp-tailed Parrots; the third, the Amazons, or 

 Blunt-tailed Parrots; the fourth, the Gray and Black Short-tailed Parrots; the 

 fifth, the true Parakeets; and the sixth, the Broad-tailed Parrots. 



The Pygmy Parrots. When compared with the Great Black Cockatoo or 

 the still larger Macaws, the quaint little Pygmy Parrots of the Papuan Islands 

 seem well named indeed, for the smallest is only two and four fifths inches 

 in length, and the very largest scarcely exceeds four inches. They are confined 



