ORDER SCANSORES. 547 



into the air, and, by a slight movement of the bill, they direct 

 them, so as to be swallowed conveniently ; then, by another 

 motion, they receive them into their wide gullet. But, if the 

 morsel should be larger than the aperture of the latter, they 

 abandon it, without attempting to divide it. 



The opposite is a figure of the Aracari Toucan ; the specific 

 description of which is in the text. Its manners are the same 

 as those of the genus, such as we have now described them. 



We now come to the most interesting family of this, or 

 perhaps of any other order in the class Aves, we mean the 

 Parrots. This family is so numerous, and in many points 

 so singularly characterized, that a naturalist might well be 

 tempted to form it into a sub-order. Its importance demands 

 that we should be a little more extensive and detailed in our 

 observations on it, than we are usually wont to be ; and, for 

 sake of method, we shall divide those observations as follows : 



First. We shall consider the physical peculiarities of par- 

 rots in general. 



Secondly. We shall review their intellectual, and particularly 

 their imitative faculties, their disposition, habits, and manners. 



Thirdly. We shall say a few words concerning the modes of 

 classification adopted for them by the most eminent naturalists; 

 and, 



Lastly, notice whatever may be interesting respecting any of 

 the individual species, consistently with the limits and the plan 

 which we have generally pursued in these supplemental essays. 



The birds of this genus possess, in an eminent degree, the 

 character of the order in which they are placed. They are 

 climbers, in the fullest sense of the word. Their toes, con- 

 stantly four in number, are opposed, two to two, and armed 

 with solid and crooked claws — less so, however, than the claws 

 of the birds of prey. The two anterior toes are united at their 

 base by a little membrane ; the hinder are completely sepa- 

 rated. The tarsi, in the majority of species, are very short? 



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