114 THEjFAUNA OF 



most brightly coloured of animals, which haunt the 

 forests of New Guinea and the neighbouring regions. 

 They spend much of their time in the trees, to whose 

 branches they cling easily with their strong feet. 



Among Picarian birds a whole division possesses the 

 climbing foot, that is one in which the first and fourth 

 toes are directed backwards, while the second and third 

 point forwards, and almost all these are arboreal birds. 

 They include the widely distributed woodpeckers, found 

 in tropical no less than in temperate forests, the jaca- 

 mars, handsome birds found in the South American 

 forests, and the toucans with enormously developed biUs 

 and bright colouring. The purely frugivorous plantain- 

 eaters of Africa differ in that the fourth toe can be 

 turned backwards or forwards at will, though the birds 

 seem to dwell entirely in the trees. The climbing foot 

 is however best developed in the parrots, which are for 

 the most part thoroughly arboreal. The legs are short, 

 and the short, strong, hooked biU, of which the upper 

 portion is hinged as well as the lower, is used in climb- 

 ing as well as in cracking hard shells and kernels. 

 Parrots are chiefly tropical, but they extend much 

 further to the south of the tropic of Capricorn 

 than to the north of that of Cancer. As is well 

 known, their colouring is often very striking, green 

 predominating, as it often does among arboreal, fruit- 

 eating birds. 



Of the parrots, the crested cockatoos are Australian, 

 and the gorgeously coloured macaws with their long 

 tails South American. The httle love-birds are African, 

 as is also the familiar grey parrot with a red tail. The 

 parakeets are found in Africa, India, and Australia. 

 Of almost all parrots it may be said, as of the fruit- 

 eating mammals, that they show a marked preference 



