TvAPTORES, BIRDS OF PREY. GEN. 138. 



199 



them into 5 families. The curious flightless ground-pfiiTot of New Zealand (Stri- 

 r/ojos Imbroptilus) forms one of these, Strigopido'. " The most highly organized 

 group is the TricJioglossidce, in which the whole structure is adapted to flower- 

 feeding habits" (Wallace) ; it belongs to the Australian region. The cockatoos 

 are familiar examples of a third family, Plictolophidce, of Australia and the East 

 Indies. The great bulk of the order, however, is made up of the other two less 

 specialized and more generally distributed groups, the Psittacidce proper, and the 



Family ARIDiE, 



of which the macaws (Am), and the following species, are characteristic examples. 



138. Gen. COUUEUS Kuhl. 



"^ is' Carolina Parroquet. 

 Green ; head yellow ; face 

 red ; bill white ; feet flesh 

 color ; wings more or less 

 variegated with blue and 

 yellow. Sexes alike. 

 Young simply green. 13 ; 

 wing 7^- ; tail 6. Southern 

 States; up the Mississipj)! 

 Valley to the Missouri 

 region ; formerly strayed 

 to Pennsylvania and New 

 York, but of late has 

 receded even from the 

 Carolinas ; still abundant 

 in Florida. Gregarious, 

 frugivorous and granivorous ; uot regularly- migratory. "WiLS., iii. 89, pi. 

 26, f. 1; NuTT., i, 545; Aud., iv, 306, pi. 278; Bd., 67. carolinensis. 



Order KAPTOEES. Birds of Prey. 



Bill epignatJious, cered; and feet not zygodaotyle. The rapacious birds form a 

 perfectly natural assemblage, to which this expression furnishes a clue. The 

 parrots, probably the only other birds with strongly hooked and truly cered bill, 

 are j^oke-toed. The Raptores present several osteological and other anatomical 

 peculiarities. There are two carotids ; the sja-iux, when developed, has but one 

 pair of intrinsic muscles. The alimentary canal varies with the families, but 

 differs from that of vegetarian bird's, in adaptation to an exclusively animal diet. 

 In the higher types, the whole structure betokens strength, activity and ferocity, 

 carnivorous propensities and predaceous nature. Most of the smaller, or weaker, 

 species feed much upon insects ; others more particularlj- upon reptiles, and fish ; 

 others upon carrion ; but the majority prejr upon other birds, and small mammals, 

 captured in open warfare. Representatives of the order are found in e\'ery part of 

 the world. They are divisible into four families. Oue of these, Gypogerunidw, 

 consists of the single remarkable species Gypogerunus serpentarius, the secretary- 

 bird or serpent-eater of Africa ; this shows a curious grallatorial analonv, Ijeiuf 



FiOr. 13:i. Carolina Parroquet. 



