PARllOTS. 
O 
bill considerably smaller iu proportion than the 
others, not exceeding one-third the length of the 
head, and not very broad, but it is firm in its texture, 
and perhaps proportionably the most powerful of any. 
The Parrots properly so-called, w^hich are the most 
scandent, have it half the length of the head, and 
very thick and strong. The Cockatoos, which inhabit 
marshy places and live upon softer food than the 
others, have the bill feeble. The Maccaws, which use 
the wing more than any of the others, and find much 
of their food in the tops of forest trees, have the bill 
large, as long as the head, and very sharp pointed. 
The tongue is likewise subject to considerable vari- 
ation of structure. In most of the birds of this 
family it is thick, fleshy, and of uniform structure 
throughout ; in others, it terminates in a brush- 
like bundle of filaments ; and in a third modification, 
consists merely of a somewhat horny substance, 
supported by a cylindrical extensile and retractile 
pedicle. 
An extensive modification of structure is observed 
in the feet of these birds in conformity with their pe- 
culiar climbing habits. Their articulations are so 
loose, and yet are so well supplied with muscular 
strength, that they have the most varied and firm 
powers of prehension of any of the Scansores. The 
toes are in pairs, but all of them are free to their 
bases, and the exterior hinder toe is capable of con- 
siderable lateral motion. The Parrot climbs, it is well 
known, by clutching with its feet, assisted by the gripe 
of its bill; and its pasture is among the sprays or 
.smaller twigs of large spreading trees, w^hich inter- 
