STRUCTURE OF PARROTS. 7 
had not merely great capacity for imitating the human voice, 
but it even exhibited great desire for the attainment, which 
could be recognized in the attention and trouble he took to 
imitate voices. Even in sleep he dreamt aloud, so deep an im- 
pression did the lessons make upon him.” 
CHAPTER II. 
STRUCTURE OF PARROTS. 
The appearance of buds of this tribe bespeaks them climbers 
in the fullest sense of the term. Their toes, four in number, 
and armed with substantial hooked claws, are opposed two and 
two. The two foremost toes are attached, at their base, by a 
membrane, while the hinder ones are distinct. 
Besides these handy graspers, the parrot, as every one must 
have observed, assists itself from pomt to point by means of its 
beak. A beautiful provision has been made to this end. With 
one or two exceptions (as for instance, in the Bupliagus Africa- 
nus, or rhinoceros bird, and the capercalzie) the upper mandible 
of all birds is capable of more or less action. In the parrot 
tribe, however, this mobility of the upper half of the beak is 
highly developed ; indeed, it is a bone distinct from the rest of 
the cranium to which it is hinged. The habits of the parrot 
render this conformation of bill essential. Audubon, speaking 
of a flock of parrakeets he once watched about to roost for the 
night, says, “ Alighting against the trunk of a sycamore, or 
any other tree in which is a considerable hollow, the birds all 
cling to the bark, or crawl into the hole to pass the night. 
When such a hole does not prove large enough to hold the 
whole flock, those around the entrance hook themselves on by 
their claws and the tip of then beaks, and look as if hanging 
by their bill.” 
The parrot’s tongue is fleshy and thick, and, without doubt, 
is a highly-sensitive organ. It is covered with tiny spines, and 
moistened with a salivary secretion, which enables it to taste 
and compare various articles of food. In the parrots of the Blue 
Mountains, and some others which feed on the nectar of flowers, 
the hairy tongue is fringed with minute suckers through which 
it imbibes its dainty fare. Mr. Caley relates that one of these 
