Ixviii 
INTRODUCTION. 
Genus Trichoglossus, Vig. &f Horsf. 
The arboi'eal group of Trichoglossi or honey-eating Lorikeets, if not so numerous in species as the grass- 
feeding Parrakeets, are individually much more abundant and are more universally dispersed, being found in every 
part of the country yet visited ; several species inhabit New South Wales : only one has yet been found in Western 
Australia. Other members of the genus are found in New Guinea and the Moluccas, but Australia is the great 
nursery for the birds of this form. 
In their structure, habits and mode of nidification, and in their economy, no two groups of the same family 
can be more widely different than the Trichoglossi and the Platycerci ; the pencilled tongue, diminutive stomach, 
thick skin, tough flesh, and foetid odour of the former presenting a decided contrast to the simple tongue, 
capacious crop and stomach, thin skin, delicate flesh and freedom from odour of the latter ; besides which the 
Trichoglossi possess a strong as furcatorium, which organ is Avanting in the Platycerci ; hence while the Trichoglossi 
are powerful, swift and arrow-like in their flight, the Platycerci are feeble, pass through the air in a succession of 
undulations near the ground, and never fly to any great distance. The mode in which the two groups approach 
and alight upon and quit the trees is also remarkably different ; the Trichoglossi dashing among and alighting upon 
the branches simultaneously, and with the utmost rapidity, and quitting them in like manner, leaving the deafening 
sound of their thousand voices echoing through the woods ; while the Platycerci rise to the branches after their 
undulating flight and leave them again in the like quiet manner, no sound being heard but their inward piping 
note. 
The eggs of the Trichoglossi are from two to four in number. 
409. Trichoglossus Swainsonii, Jard. ^ Selb. .......... Vol. V. PI. 48. 
410. Trichoglossus I'ubritorquis, Vig. ^ Horsf . .......... Vol. V. PI. 49. 
" Procured at Port MoUe on the north-east coast, previously only found at Port Essington." — J. M'Gillivray. 
411. Trichoglossus chlorolepidotus ............ Vol. V. PI. 50. 
412. Trichoglossus versicolor, Vig. ............ Vol. V. PI. 51. 
413. Trichoglossus concinnus ............ Vol. V. PI. 52. 
414. Trichoglossus porphyrocephalus. Diet. . . . . . . . . . . Vol. V. PI. 53. 
415. Trichoglossus pusillus . . . . ... . . . . . . Vol. V. PI. 54. 
Order RASORES, ///. 
Family COLUMBIDiE, LeacL 
The members of this important family are distributed over every portion of the globe, in no part of which are 
they more numerous than in Australia, since that country is inhabited by no less than twenty-one species, which, 
like its Psittacidae, comprise several well-marked and distinct genera, and appear to be naturally divided into two 
great groups, the one arboreal, the other terrestrial ; the Ptilinopi, Carpophagce and Lopholaimus, with their expansive 
gullets and broad hand-like feet forming part of the former, and the Phaps, Geophaps and Geopelice the latter. The 
Ptilinopi and other allied forms are, in consequence of the peculiar character of the vegetation, confined, without a 
single exception, to the eastern and northern parts of the country. 
The species of the genus Phaps, a form which I believe to be confined to Australia, are more widely dispersed 
than those of any other section of the family, being universally distributed over the entire country from north to 
south and from east to west ; even the parched deserts of the interior are visited by them if a supply of water 
be within reach of their evening flight, which is performed with the most extraordinary rapidity and power. 
