Order III. SCANSOEES. 
The second Family, 
PSITTACID^, or Parrots, 
have the Bill more or less large and strong, with the culmen arched to the tip, which is prolonged and 
acute, the lateral margins sometimes dentated, and the base covered by a cere, of greater or less size, in 
which the nostrils are placed ; the Wings and the Tail generally long ; and the Tarsi usually very short 
and robust. 
The first Subfamily, 
PEZOPORINiE, or Ground Parrakeets, 
have the Bill moderate, with the culmen usually rounded and arched to the tip, which is sometimes 
dentated ; the Tarsi more or less short and robust ; and the Tail broad, lengthened, and more or less 
graduated, with the ends of the feathers narrowed, and rounded or pointed. 
Nymphicus JVagl.* 
Bill moderate, compressed on the sides towards the culmen, which is curved to the acute tip ; the 
lateral margins strongly dentated ; the gonys broad and angular ; the nostrils basal, lateral, placed in 
a short rounded cere near the culmen, and with the opening large. Wiiigs very long, with the second 
quill the longest. Tail very long, broad, and rounded on the sides, with the two middle feathers 
prolonged beyond the others, and pointed. Tat^si short, stout, and covered with small scales. Toes 
long and slender, with the outer anterior one the longest, and all covered with small scales, and 
armed with acute, slightly curved claws. 
The type peculiar to Australia. It is a migratory bird, congregating in immense flocks before taking its de- 
parture for a fresh locality. Mr. Gould observes that he has seen the ground quite covered by them while engaged in 
procuring food : and it is not an unusual circumstance to see hundreds together on the dead branches of the gum trees 
in the neighbourhood of water. Its form admirably adapts it for teiTcstrial progression ; hence it is enabled readily 
to procure the seeds of the various grasses, upon which it almost solely subsists. Its flight is even and easy, and is 
capable of being long protracted. When roused from the ground, it flies up into the nearest trees, almost invariably 
selecting a dead branch, upon which it frequently perches lengthwise. It breeds in the holes of gum and other trees 
growing on the flats and in the neighbourhood of water. The eggs are five or six in number. 
* M'agler established this genus in 1830 (Ahhandl. Akad. Miinchen, 1832, p. 490.). Calopsitta of M. Lesson (1831) and Leptolophus 
of Mr. Swainson (1832) are synonymous. 
