100 PSITTACIDiE. 



and the upper mandible has two broad slightly in- 

 dented grooves on each side: the base has a few 

 transverse wrinkles, and the serratures deep and un- 

 equal : the lower mandible half the depth of the 

 upper, the sides concave and the teeth less : the 

 colour (in the dried bird) black ; the base of the 

 lower and the upper half of the superior mandible 

 rufous, with a whitish marginal line : the nostrils are 

 more lateral than usual, being placed in a line with 

 the eye : the orbits naked and reddish-brown, the fea- 

 thers encircling which (particularly beneath the eye) 

 are vivid caerulean blue : the whole upper plumage 

 is parrot-green, paler beneath, with a gloss of golden- 

 yellow on the cheeks and sides : throat dusky white : 

 wings short, five inches long, and rounded : inner 

 shafts of the quills black, margined with whitish : 

 tail cuneated, green, four inches and a half long, the 

 four middle feathers equal : legs dusky-black." 



FAMILY II.— PSITTACIDiE. 



Rostrum aduncum, validum, crassum^ solidum, undique con- 

 vexum, basi memhrand ornatum; mandibula superiore lateribus 

 angulatis; inferiore recurvatd, apice integrd aut emarginatd : 

 lingua crassa, carnosa, rotundata, interdum apice pennacea : 

 pedes breves i tarsi reticidati, nudi; digiti zygodactyli. 



Beak hooktdi, stout, thick, solid, convex on all sides, furnished 

 with a membrane at the base ; with its upper mandible angu- 

 lated at the sides ; the lower recurved, its tip intire or notched : 

 tongue thick, fleshy, rounded, sometimes feathered at the tip : 

 legs short ; tarsi reticulated, naked ^ toes placed in pairs. 



PsiTTACiNE birds are at once distinguished by the 

 peculiar structure of the beak: their nourishment 



