BIEDS 291 



mimics of the voices of other animals. The parrots vary 

 in size, from the love bird, about the size of a sparrow, to 

 the m.acaws, which often measure three feet from tip of bill 

 to tip of tail. The only parrot found in the United States 

 is the Carolina parrakeet. Formerly this parrot was found 

 as far north as the Great Lakes, but now it is confined to 

 Florida. It is very fond of cultivated grains and this has 

 been one cause of its extermination (Fig. 197). 



The toes of parrots, like those of woodpeckers and cuckoos, 

 are in pairs. One pair points backward and one pair forward. 



Perching birds. — This group of birds contains over six 

 thousand species, more than all the others combined. 

 Nearly all the famiUar birds belong to the perchers. The 

 crows, jays, orioles, robins, bobolinks, sparrows, mocking 

 birds, thrushes, etc., are familiar examples. They are the 

 inost highly developed of all the birds, and stand at the 

 head in complexity of organization. The feet of the perchers 

 'differ from those of the parrots in having one toe pointing 

 backwards and three toes extending forward, thus enabling 

 them to grasp the object on which they are resting. Many 

 of them are very sweet singers. The mocking bird is con- 

 sidered first in the range and variety of its notes. To the 

 writer, however, the song of no bird will ever awaken so 

 much joy or will linger so long in the memory as the notes 

 of '.the Wilson's thrush heard Ughtly rolling and lingering 

 through a wooded glen on a summer eve at twihght. In 

 the mammals, the vocal ccrds by which sound is produced 

 are situated- at the upper end of the windpipe in the larynx. 

 In the singing birds a structure known as the "syrinx," 

 or "lower larynx," is situated at the lower end of the wind- 

 pipe, next to the lungs. It is here that the sounds are sup- 

 posed to be produced. 



