78 
HISTORY OP THE PARROTS. 
dined to place the black parrots of Madagascar, 
known by the name of Vasa. This division is con- 
sidered as analogous to the fissirostral tribe of the 
Jnsessorcs. 
By Button, and other naturalists of an early date, 
the geographical distribution of the parrots was sup- 
posed to be confined to the sultry climates within 
the Tropics. The discoveries made during the va- 
rious scientific voyages which have since explored 
the globe, and the keen research that of late years 
has been instituted in pursuit of objects of natural 
history, have, however, shewn that it is much wider 
in extent, particularly in the southern hemisphere, 
where species have been found in latitudes as high 
as 50°, examples having been discovered and brought 
from the Straits of Magellan. In the northern he- 
misphere, the limit appears to be more restricted, as 
the Carolina parrakeet of North America, and some 
few African species, are seldom seen beyond the 32d 
or 33d degrees. The Equatorial Regions must, how- 
ever, be considered the metropolis of the family, as 
it is in them that the greatest variety of genera are 
met with, the species which inhabit the higher or 
colder latitudes, though numerous, belonging to a 
very limited number of generic forms. In the ma- 
jority of this family, we find a plumage which, for 
richness and variety of colour, yields to few of the 
feathered race ; and though, like the tulip among 
flowers, it may by some be thought gaudy, and com- 
posed of colours too violently and abruptly contrast- 
