BIRDS. 



09 



that some of tlie most gorgeous colours prevail. Others 

 obtain protection in a variety of ways ; and the 

 amount of cover or concealment always afforded by the 

 luxuriant tropical vegetation is probably a potent agent 

 in permitting a full development of colour. 



Birds. — Although the number of brilliantly-coloured 

 birds in almost every part of the tropics is very great, 

 yet they are by no means conspicuous ; and as a rule 

 they can hardly be said to add much to the general 

 effect of equatorial scenery. The traveller is almost 

 always disappointed at first with the birds, as he is with 

 the flowers and the beetles ; and it is only when, gun 

 in hand, he spends days in the forest, that he finds out 

 how many beautiful living things are concealed by its 

 dense foliage and gloomy thickets. A considerable number 

 of the handsomest tropical birds belong to family groups 

 which are confined to one continent with its adjacent 

 islands ; and we shall therefore be obliged to deal for the 

 most part with such large divisions as tribes and orders, 

 by means of which to define the characteristics of tropical 

 bird-life. We find that there are three important 

 orders of birds which, though by no means exclusively 

 tropical, are yet so largely developed there in proportion 

 to their scarcity in extra-tropical regions, that more 

 than any others they serve to give a special character 

 to equatorial ornithology. These are the Parrots, the 

 Pigeons, and the Picariae, to each of which groups we 

 will devote some attention. 



Parrots. — The parrots, forming the order Psittaci of 

 naturalists, are a remarkable group of fruit-eating birds, 

 of such high and peculiar organization that they are 

 often considered to stand at the head of the entire class. 



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