ORNITHOLOGY 



Gemfs-FSITTACUS. 

 Species— YSITTACV& PAPUEN3IS. 



Generic Character. — Bill hooked and acuminated and sharp- 

 ly pointed, upper mandible projecting twice the 

 length of the lower one, the head round and 

 slightly crested, the tail long and tapering twice 

 the length of the body- toes, standing two forward 

 and two backward, 



THE Parrot which has received the common name of 

 the Papuan Lory, is brought from Papua in the East Indies, 

 and is one of the richest coloured individuals of that exten- 

 sive and almost numberless tribe of birds. Several natural- 

 ists having discovered that these Parrots, when in their 

 own regions, uttered frequently a cry similar to the word 

 lori, gave them the name of Lory, as a denomination, it is 

 likely however shortly to go out of use, as not sufficiently 

 distinctive in other respects, of the various birds which 

 use that sound in particular. We have before remarked 

 in this work how necessary it now appears to have some 

 general reform in the historical account of the Parrots, and 

 on this account we bestowed what we thought a due praise 

 on Monsieur Levaillant, who ably points out the tail as 

 the most proper part for establishing a new set of orders 

 or divisions. 



The tail of the present bird has a good deal of resem- 

 blance to that of the Ara Miltaris or Military Macaw, 

 described in the fifth number of the Arcana. The follow- 

 ing striking circumstances occur in the general contour of 

 its form, distinguishing it from the rest of its congeners, 



T 



