LAND BIRDS 



297 



Order XIII. Psit'taci. — Parrots or paroquets are usually 

 highly colored, harsh-voiced tropical birds, with thick, stout 

 bills. The upper half of the bill extends down over the lower one. 

 The toes, which are used as hands, or with which they walk or 

 climb, are arranged two in front and two behind. There are 

 about 500 species of these birds. They live on fruits and seeds. 

 They are of considerable commercial importance. The parrot 

 is quite a common pet. The Carolina paroquet is the only 

 species found native in the United States. Its range formerly 



Fig. 243.- 



-Belted kingfisher (Cer'yle alcyon); 13 inches, 

 from specimen.) 



(Photographed 



extended to the Great Lakes, but now it is found only " rarely 

 in Florida and along the Gulf coast to Indian Territory." 



Order XIV. Coc'cyges. — This is an Old World order of trop- 

 ical birds, "classified together in one miscellaneous group only 

 because they belong to no other order." 



Kingfishers are a large family of about two hundred species, chiefly of 

 tropical birds, represented in the United States by three species. The 

 belted kingfisher (Fig. 243) is our common species, described by Apgar as 

 " a noisy, short-tailed, large, straight-billed, crested, blue-backed bird, with 

 white lower parts and a bluish band across the breast." 



