ORNITHOLOGY. 



603 



Scansores. beak, which occasionally produced something approaching 

 *—"v~ ■"" to a quarrel. At the termination of twenty-five days, there 

 being no appearance of progeny, the eggs were purposely 

 withdrawn and broken, and were found to contain young 

 in different stages of development, but all dead. This re- 

 sult was attributed to stormy weather, which had pre- 

 vailed during incubation. Fortunately a second laying, 

 accompanied by the same circumstances as the first, com- 

 menced on the 14th of July, and after twenty-three days, 

 counted rigorously, the young appeared from each egg in 

 a succession corresponding to the order of laying. They 

 were at first covered by a grayish down, and were cherish- 

 ed with the tenderest solicitude by the parents, who on 

 the approach of any threatened danger defended them 

 with the greatest courage. It was in truth a curious sight 

 to see two creatures before so kind and tenderly affec- 

 tionate to those around them, so grateful for their food, 

 and so solicitous of human kindness, converted by the 

 strength of this new passion into little tigers, and so in- 

 tractable as to attend no longer to fair hands or gentle 

 voice's. This natural wildness showed itself also strongly 

 in the young ones, who recognised alone their parents, 

 and bit and scratched at all the world besides. 



A few species have the tail square, with the central fea- 

 thers prolonged, and these in Ps. setarius, Temm. PI. Col. 

 15, are bare of barbs, except at the tip. 



The great mass of parrots properly so called, belonging 

 to the restricted genus Psittacus, have the bill rather 

 strong, the face clothed with feathers, the head large, 

 without crest, the body thick, and the tail rather short and 

 square. Green is the prevailing colour of the plumage, 

 and the species are native to various countries both of the 

 old world and the new. One of the best known, and 

 most remarkable for its easy docility, the distinctness of 

 its articulation, and general loquacious powers, is the com- 

 mon gray parrot, Ps. erythacus, of which the tail is red, 

 and the orbits white and naked. It is an African species, 

 and one of the earliest and most frequently imported. It 

 has been known to breed in Europe, — a French gentleman 

 at Marraande having had a pair which produced young 

 ones for five or six years successively. They made their 

 nest in spring, in a cask filled with saw-dust, the number 

 of eggs being four, of which one was always unproductive. 

 According to Labat a similar instance had previously oc- 

 curred at Paris. Our present square-tailed group is very 

 numerous. 



The lories (genus Lorius, Vig.) have the bill rather 

 attenuated, the upper mandible much arched, compressed, 

 the lower lengthened, and nearly entire. The tongue is 

 described as bristly and tubular. The tail is rather short, 

 slightly graduated. Various shades of red form the pre- 

 vailing colour of the plumage. The species inhabit the 

 East Indies and the Asiatic islands. Example, Ps. uni- 

 color, garrulus, &c. 



Certain short-tailed species, of small size, which inhabit 

 the tropical countries of both the new and old world, form 

 the genus Psittaculus of Kuhl. Such are Ps. passerinus, 

 tui, &c. They are erroneously called parrakeets by some 

 of our English writers, a name which would confound them 

 with the long-tailed species already alluded to, and more 

 generally recognised under that title. The vast extent of 

 the parrot tribe renders subdivision extremely desirable as 

 a matter of convenience ; but it must be confessed that a 

 mere difference in size and colour is not of itself sufficient 

 to authorize the separation of groups, or the formation of 

 genera. 



The genus Microglossus, Vieil., is, however, better 

 founded. The bill, especially the upper mandible, is very 

 large and strong, the head ornamented by a crest of nar- 



row feathers, and the face naked. The tongue is cylin- Scansorei. 

 drical, lengthened, and tubular, capable of being greatly v -— -*— — 

 protruded from the mouth, and ending in a kind of corne- 

 ous gland, cloven at the tip. (See Plate CCCXCVII. figs. 5 

 and 6.) The legs are more naked than usual, and the tarsi, 

 on which they occasionally rest while walking, very short 

 and square. The tail is square or even. We are not ac- 

 quainted with more than two species, both from eastern 

 countries. The black or giant cockatoo (Ps. gigas), called 

 by old Edwards " a parrot of the first magnitude," and Ps. 

 aterrimus of Gmelin, are the birds alluded to. Their sy- 

 nonymy seems confused. They inhabit New Guinea and 

 the isle of Waigiou ; and Edwards's figure was taken from 

 a living specimen in Ceylon, but whether indigenous or 

 imported does not appear. Vaillant observes of one of 

 the species (his ara noir a trompe), that in cold weather 

 it covered the bare space on each side of its face by low- 

 ering over them the feathers of the crest. 



The great New Holland species, called the Banksian 

 cockatoo, discovered in the course of Captain Cook's first 

 circumnavigation, forms, with others, the modern genus 

 Calyptorhynchus. (Plate CCCXCVII. fig. 2.) These large 

 dark-coloured species are as yet but ill defined. They are 

 said to live on roots ; but Mr Bennet alludes to one which 

 feeds on the larva? of insects, as well as on the seeds of 

 Banksia, Hakea, and even of Xanthorrhcea, or grass tree ; 

 and in the travels of that gentleman we find the following 

 passage, which relates to a certain locality in New Holland. 

 " Black and white cockatoos had lately become very nu- 

 merous about this part of the country : the former appear- 

 ed to have been attracted by some trees that had been 

 felled when clearing a spot of land for cultivation, — as these 

 birds visit the dead or fallen trees to procure the larvae of 

 insects that breed in them. I have seen, more than once, 

 small trees lying prostrate, occasioned by the powerful bills 

 of the large black cockatoos, who, observing on the trunk, 

 externally, indications of a larva being within, have diligent- 

 ly laboured to extract it ; and should the object of their 

 search be situated (as often occurs) far in, before they reach 

 it the trunk is so much cut through, that the slightest puff 

 of wind lays it prostrate." 1 



The white-plumaged cockatoos, with conspicuous crests, 

 tinged in part with orange, red, or yellow, pertain to the 

 genus Plyctolophus, Vieil. (Plate CCCXCVII. fig. 3.) 

 They inhabit New Holland and the eastern islands, and are 

 remarkable for their great docility. They are said to pre- 

 fer the vicinity of marshy places. 



A beautiful small parrot, with longer legs than usual, 

 and straighter claws, forms the genus Pezoporus, Illiger. 

 It is green and yellow, spotted with black, the frontlet 

 red, the tail long and graduated. The outer hind claw is 

 very long. This singular bird, commonly called the ground 

 parrot (P. terrestris, Shaw, — P.formosus, Latham), differs 

 from its congeners in hardly ever perching upon trees. It 

 remains upon the ground in sedgy plains, or runs among 

 the long grass, almost after the manner of a rail. (Plate 

 CCCXCVII. fig. 4.) 



At the conclusion of the scansorial order Cuvier has 

 placed two genera which have certainly but little in com- 

 mon with the preceding groups, and which some consider 

 as allied to the gallinaceous order, while others have placed 

 them in the conirostral tribe of Passeres, — we mean Cory- 

 thaix and Musophaga. In both the bill is rather short, 

 the upper mandible bulged or rounded, the feet have a 

 short membrane between the toes, and although these are 

 not placed exactly in pairs, yet the outer toe is versatile 

 to a considerable degree. The nostrils are simply pierced 

 in the corneous portion of the bill, the margins of which 

 are dentated. In the plantain-eaters (genus Musophaga, 



J Wanderings in New Sotttli ii'uks, &c. i. 182. 



