ORDER SCANSOllES. 553 



face more obscure than the upper. The most external of 

 these lateral quills, and the two intermediate ones, are often of 

 a different colour from the others. 



The epaulette of the wing, or the edge of this part towards 

 the carpus, is often of a different colour from the upper part 

 of the wing, and this colour is usually red or yellow. Almost 

 always the lower tail-coverts have a different tint from the 

 upper and from the rump. When the mantle is green, as 

 well as the back, it is seldom that the wing-quills, in their 

 visible part, and the lateral and intermediate quills of the 

 tail, are not of an aquamarine blue, or present some shades 

 of blue, more or less deep. Very often the forehead is 

 marked with a blue, red, or yellow band, which contrasts 

 with the colour of the top of the head. On this last is some- 

 times a tuft, or cap, also coloured differently from the rest of 

 the head, and bounded by the eyes and occiput. Many par- 

 rots or parrakeets have received specific names, derived from 

 the existence of mustachios, or of spots situated at the base 

 of the bill, on the cheeks, or on the loricm, which is the space 

 comprised between the bill and the eye, or from having a 

 complete collar, single or double, according as it is formed of 

 one tint or of two ; also from the existence of demi-collars, 

 placed sometimes behind the nape, and sometimes under the 

 neck. The plumage of the parrots is never spotted or 

 striated, like that of certain passeres, and some birds of prey. 



A disposition of colour frequent amongst the parrots, and 

 in all probability peculiar to young individuals, is that which 

 gives rise to the meshed, or scaled plumage. This takes place 

 when the feathers of the body, and especially of the lower 

 parts, are edged with a border of a different colour from that 

 of their ground. Then, these feathers are so disposed, one 

 over the other, as to resemble the effect produced by the scales 

 of fish ; from which circumstance, this sort of plumage is 

 termed, in French, ecaille. 



