S88 Mr. Vig-ors's Sketches in Ornithology. 



tailed Parrakeets. The former, or the genus Macrocercus, Vieill. 

 inhabitants exclusively of the New World, are distinguished by 

 the nakedness of the cheeks, and the extreme strength of the 

 bill, the under mandible of which is short, bent inwards, and 

 deeply emarginated. The latter, or the section Conurus of M. 

 Kuhl, dispersed in various modifications of form over all the warmer 

 parts of the globe, come next in affinity to the preceding group by' 

 the length and graduated structure of the tail, but are separated 

 from it by the cheeks being feathered. The bills also of this sub- 

 family exhibit a regular gradation of form from the strong bill 

 and short under mandibles of the Maccaws, to the comparatively 

 feebler bill and more elongated under mandibles of the succeeding 

 subdivisions of the family. 



Between the two subfamilies thus separated from each other, 

 a beautiful connection is preserved by means of a group which 

 comprises the extreme species, or the earliest that present them- 

 selves to us, of the second of these subdivisions. These birds, 

 although their cheeks are covered with feathers and they are thus 

 brought within the circle of the Parrakeets, have yet the bill of 

 the Maccaws; and by a greater or less nakedness of the orbits 

 round the eyes they still further assert their affinity to them. From 

 their osculant situation between the two groups, thus strikingly 

 apparent, the species that exhibit these characters have received 

 the familiar name of Parrakeet-Maccaws in our language, and of 

 Perruche-Aras among the French Ornithologists. Like the true 

 Maccaws they are exclusively natives of the New World.* Two 

 species, lately added to our collections in this country, and which 

 appear to me to be new to science, afford me an opportunity of 

 characterizing this interesting group, which from its intermediate 

 station between the two subfamilies, and with a reference to the 

 trivial name already bestowed upon it, I shall denominate 



PsiTTACARA. 



Caput plumosum, perioptluihniis nudis. 



Rostrum crassum, subbrcve ; mandibula superiore apice sub" 



* An Eastern form liowever nearly allied to both these groups has lately 

 come to this country, which Dr. Horsfield and myself will shortly have an 

 opportunity of characterizing:. 



