be no fruit-eaters ; and without the fruit-eaters to disperse their seeds, there 

 could not be any great number of fruits. 



Most of the parrots very much resemble the monkeys and other tropical fruit- 

 eaters in their habits and manners. They are gregarious, mischievous and noisy. 

 They have no moral sense, and are fond of practical jokes. They move about 

 in flocks, screeching aloud as they go, and alight together on some tree well cov- 

 ered with berries. No doubt they herd together for the sake of protection, and 

 screech both to keep the flock in a body and to strike consternation into the breasts 

 of their enemies. When danger threatens, the first bird that perceives it sounds 

 a note of warning; and in a moment the whole troupe is on the wing at once, 

 vociferous and eager, roaring forth a song in their own tongue, which may be 

 interpreted to mean that they are ready to fight if it is necessary. 



The common gray parrot, the best know^n in confinement of all his kind, 

 and unrivalled as an orator for his graces of speech, is a native of West Africa. 

 He feeds in a general way upon palm-nuts, bananas, mangoes and guavas, but he 

 is by no mens averse, if opportunity oflFers, to the Indian corn of the industrious 

 native. It is only in confinement that this bird's finer qualities come out, and 

 that it develops into a speechmaker of distinguished attainments. 



A peculiar and exceptional oflfshoot of the parrot group is the brush-tongued 

 lory, several species of which are common in Australia and India. These in- 

 teresting birds are parrots which have a resemblance to humming birds. Flitting 

 about from tree to tree with great rapidity, they thrust their long extensible 

 tongues, penciled with honey-gathering hairs, into the tubes of many big tropical 

 blossoms. The lories, indeed, live entirely on nectar, and they are so common 

 in the region they have made their own that the larger flowers there present 

 the appearance of having been developed with a special view to their taste and 

 habits, as well as to the structure of their peculiar brush-like honey-collector. 

 In most parrots the mouth is dry and the tongue horny ; but in the lories it is 

 moist and much more like the same organ in the humming-birds and the sun-birds. 

 The prevalence of very large and brilliantly-colored flowers in the Malayan 

 region must be set down for the most part to the selective action of the color- 

 loving, brush-tongued parrots. 



The Australian continent and New Zealand, as everybody knows, are the 

 countries where everything goes by contraries. And it is here that the parrot 

 group has developed some of its most curious ofifshoots. One would imagine 

 beforehand that no two birds could be more unlike in every respect than the 

 gaudy, noisy, gregarious cockatoos and the sombre, nocturnal, solitary owls. 

 Yet the New Zealand owl-parrot is a lory which has assumed all the appearances 

 and habits of an owl. A lurker in the twilight or under the shades of night, 

 burrowing for its nest in holes in the ground, it has dingy brown plumage like 

 the owls, with an undertone .of green to bespeak its parrot origin; while its face 

 is entirely made up of two great disks, surrounding the eyes, which succeed in 

 giving it a most marked and unmistakable owl-like appearance. 



702 



