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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



AN AVIAN POACHEE GETS A CHANCE WHEN KINGFISH 



Photograph by A. A. Allen 

 HAS A SUCKER IN ITS BILL 



The belted kingfisher is notoriously jealous of its "fishing rights" along a favorite river. Some 

 call this frequenter of lonely streams an enemy of young trout, but its diet is largely restricted to 

 chubs, minnows, and other shallow-water fish of no value to anglers. An expert high diver, this 

 bird may plunge 50 feet to snap up its prey from the water. The red-brown band across the lower 

 breast identifies this one as a female (Color Plate IV). 



macaws and parakeets the tail is long and 

 graduated. 



Green is a common color in the plumage, 

 and is often variegated with yellow, orange, 

 and red. Although there are a few excep- 

 tions, bright coloration is the rule. 



The most brilliant members of all the par- 

 rot group are found among the lories of Aus- 

 tralia and adjacent islands. Red, orange, 

 yellow, blue, and green are mingled in 

 their plumage in bizarre and striking pat- 

 terns. 



In most parrots the tongue is soft and 

 flexible at the tip and is used to hold food 

 while it is cut up by the bill. The tongue 

 in lories has a brushlike fringe at the end 

 that is supposed to assist in extracting nec- 

 tar from blossoms. 



SOME PARROTS THREE FEET LONG, OTHERS 

 THREE INCHES 



Members of the parrot family range in 

 size from giants to midgets. The great 

 all-blue hyacinthine macaw of Brazil is 

 nearly three feet in length, with a long, 

 pointed tail. The black cockatoo of north- 



ern Australia and adjacent islands is per- 

 haps even a larger and heavier bird in body, 

 as it is 32 inches long despite its short, 

 square tail. 



What a contrast there is between these 

 huge-billed giants and the tiny pygmy par- 

 rots of New Guinea and near-by islands, the 

 smallest of which is barely three inches long ! 



Probably the best-known members of 

 the family are the Amazon parrots of the 

 New World. Small to medium in size, 

 they have square tails and are green in 

 general color, more or less marked with 

 yellow or red. There are many kinds, of 

 which several are regularly kept in cap- 

 tivity. 



My first experience with these birds in 

 their native haunts came years ago in 

 Puerto Rico. A flock of them feeding in 

 tall trees flew to a near-by hill where I 

 looked for them for some time without re- 

 sult, amazed that such large birds could 

 remain so inconspicuous. 



When I finally located one it was only 

 ten feet away, its green color matching the 

 leaves among which it perched. Later, on 



