PARROTS. 



101 



general green tint sometimes changes into light or deep 

 blue, as in some macaws ; into pure yellow or rich orange, 

 as in some of the American macaw-parrots (Conurus) ; 

 into purple, grey, or dove-colour, as in some American, 

 African, and Indian species ; into the purest crimson, as 

 in some of the lories ; into rosy- white and pure white, as 

 in the cockatoos ; and into a deep purple, ashy or black, 

 as in several Papuan, Australian, and Mascarene species. 

 There is in fact hardly a single distinct and definable 

 colour that cannot be fairly matched among the 390 

 species of known parrots. Their habits, too, are such 

 as to bring them prominently before the eye. They 

 usually feed in flocks ; they are noisy, and so attract 

 attention ; they love gardens, orchards, and open sunn} 

 places ; they wander about far in search of food, anc 

 towards sunset return homewards in noisy flocks, or in 

 constant pairs. Their forms and motions are ofteii 

 beautiful and attractive. The immensely long tails of 

 the macaws, and the more slender tails of the Indian 

 parraquets; the fine crest of the cockatoos; the swift 

 flight of many of the smaller species, and the graceful 

 motions of the little love-birds and allied forms ; to- 

 gether with their affectionate natures, aptitude for 

 domestication, and powers of mimicry — combine to 

 render them at once the most conspicuous and the 

 most attractive of all the specially tropical forms of 

 bird-life. 



The number of species of parrots found in tbe dif- 

 ferent divisions of the tropics is very unequal. Africa 

 is by far the poorest ; since along with Madagascar 

 and the Mascarene islands, which have many peculiar 

 forms, it scarcely numbers two dozen species. Asia, along 



