254 BIRBS OF INDIA. 



The cranium is large ; the neck has usually twelve vertebrje ; 

 the sternum is large, entire, very similar to that of the diurnal 

 Raptores ; but somewhat more narrow, and with an oval aperture on 

 each side posteriorly ; the keel well developed, rounded anteriorly ; 

 the furcula thin and flattened, and absent in more than one group. 

 The tongue is thick and fleshy. The lower larynx is complicated, 

 furnished Avith peculiar muscles, and the bony ring at the divari- 

 cation of the bronchi is absent. The jaws are powerful, provided 

 with some peculiar muscles, and the upper mandible is moveable. 

 The stomach is slightly muscular ; the intestines are remarkably 

 long and thin, and are without coeca ; and there is no gall 

 bladder. 



Their short, curved bill, the presence of the cere, and the form of 

 their sternum, ally them to the birds of prey; and they have, like them, 

 a dilatation of the oesophagus which secretes a milky fluid, like that 

 of the Pigeons, with which they also agree in the want of a gaU- 

 bladder. Some systematists would class them in a separate order 

 from the Insessores, placing them at the head of the whole class, as 

 the Quadrnmana are iisually placed among mammalia ; but I agree 

 with Gray, Horsfield, Wallace, and indeed most naturalists, that their 

 true place is among the scansorial division of the Insessoo^es. Those 

 who place the Parrots at the head of the birds, rely chiefly 

 on their large brain, and hence greater intelligence and docility, 

 and not on any general superiority of organization ; but reasoning 

 on this head alone, we should place Dogs above Monkeys. Con- 

 sidering their anatomical structure, Avhich is, always excepting the 

 brain, of an inferior type ; their feet in pair's, and even the re- 

 ticulation of their tarsi ; their bright colors, their nestling in holes 

 of trees, and white eggs ; joined Avith the fact of their very great 

 development in Australia, to the total exclusion of Wood-peckers, 

 I must conclude that their true place is among the Scansores, and 

 that their nearest aflinity is with some of the birds of prey. 



The family of Parrots is divided into several sub-families, the 

 chief of which are as follow : — 



1st. Psittacince, or true Parrots. — These have the bill sometimes 

 crenated, or toothed, have short tails, the head not crested, and 

 are found over both continents. 



