92 



PARROTS. 



an oil-gland is present it is furnished with a tuft of feathers. Finally, the young 

 are born in a nearly naked and completely helpless condition ; and the eggs are 

 usually, if not invariably, white. 



Distribution and For the most part parrots are thoroughly arboreal and climbing 



Habits. lairds ; and are essentially characteristic of the tropical and subtropical 

 regions of the globe. At the present day none inhabit Europe, although the 

 remains of an extinct species, apparently allied to a living West African species, 

 have been obtained from the Miocene rocks of France. In America one species 

 extends as far south as the Straits of Magellan, while another ranges far into the 

 United States ; and in the Macquarie Islands of the Australian region, the group 

 extends as far south as the 55th parallel. Although ranging over all the warmer 

 regions of the globe, these birds are very unequally distributed, being poorly re- 



^=«^*i% ^-^ >^^ 



CUCKAK.MI.S AT Hu.ME. 



presented in India, and still more so in Africa, while in Mala^^sia and Australia 

 they attain their maximum diversity of type, and in South America their greatest 

 numerical development. 



All the parrots make their nests in the hollows of trees, where they usually 

 lay from two to three white eggs, although in the case of some of tlie smaller species 

 the number is often considerably more. Frequently the males take their share in 

 the work of incubation, which generally lasts for about twenty-one days. The 

 young parrots are fed by the parents disgorging half-digested food from their own 

 crops into their open mouths, after the manner of pigeons. The food of the adult 

 consists in most cases of various fruits and nuts. Regarding their general habits, 

 and the important part these birds play in tropical scenery, Mr. Wallace writes 

 as follows : " They usually feed in flocks ; they are noisy, and so attract attention ; 

 they love gardens, orchards, and open sunny places ; they wander about far in 

 search of food, and towards sunset return homewards in noisy flocks or in constant 

 pairs. Their forms and motions are often beautiful and attractive. The immensely 



