PARROTS. 



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the beak is compressed at the sides, and the upper mandible generally terminates in a long pointed 

 hook. The legs are strong and powerful, the plumage usually harsh, and the feathers cordiform and 

 particularly small. Those on the head and neck are thick and strikingly coloured. We are familiar 

 with many varieties of these birds, most of them from South America, and with others from Africa, 

 which have lately been placed in a different tribe. 



THE MAITAKKA (Pioiuis mmstruus). 



THE MAITAKKA. 



Of all the blunt-tailed parrots, none is brought to Europe in greater numbers than the Brazilian 

 Maitakka (Pionus menstruus). This bird is of middle size, ten and a half inches long and twenty 

 inches across ; the tail is three inches long, and the wing six inches in length from the shoulder to the 

 tip. The plumage on the head, neck, throat, and upper part of the breast, is ultramarine, tiirough 

 which the black ground colour is visible : the neck feathers are of a copperish green, edged with 

 blue. The back, lower part of belly, breast, and wings are copper green, the feathers on the back 

 being edged with a darker shade ; those upon the breast sire shaded with light blue. The upper wing- 

 covers are of a yellowish olive green, the under covers the colour of verdigris ; die quill-feathers are 

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