CHAPTER X. 
The Parrot Tribe,— Order Psittaci. 
One of the most interesting groups of birds is that of the parrots, under which 
general term may be included not only the true parrots, but likewise the macaws, 
lories, love-birds, cockatoos, etc. This general interest is due not only to the 
beauty of form and gorgeousness of plumage characterising so many members 
of the group, but likewise to the ease with which they are domesticated, their 
pleasing manners when in this state, and above all to the extraordinary facility 
with which they recollect and repeat sentences of human speech. That the memory 
of parrots is very strongly developed, there can be no sort of doubt; but whether 
their intellectual powers rank really higher than those of some of the Passerine birds 
is problematical. The appropriateness to the occasion with which sentences learned 
by these birds are sometimes uttered is probably mainly or entirely due co associa¬ 
tion, and in no sense implies any knowledge of the meaning of the phrase. It may 
be added that the occasions when such phrases are introduced inappropriately are, 
perhaps, not much less infrequent than when they are apposite. 
Parrots form a large group, including considerably more than five hundred 
species, which present well-marked characters by which its members can be readily 
distinguished from all other assemblages of birds. Their most obvious external 
characters are displayed by their feet and bills. In the feet the fourth toe (as in 
some of the Picarians) is permanently turned backwards, and as the first toe has 
likewise a similar direction, the whole foot is divided into a front and back portion, 
each comprising two digits; this type of foot-structure being termed zygodactyle. 
The covering of the feet takes the form of rough granular scales. As regards the 
beak, its base is invested with the wax-like protuberance termed the cere, which is 
frequently feathered, while in form it is short, stout, and strongly hooked at the 
extremity. In addition to the above, it may be noted that, owing to the presence 
of a transverse hinge in the skull, the upper half of the beak is movable; while 
the palate is of the bridged (desmognathous) type. The skull, as shown in the 
figure in the introductory chapter, is also very generally distinguished by the 
presence of a complete bony ring surrounding the socket of the eye; and the 
symphysis of the lower jaw is short, obtuse, and deeply channelled. The tongue 
is also thick and fleshy, and may be fringed or brush-like at the extremity. 
Extreme shortness characterises the legs of most of the species, this shortness being- 
most marked in the metatarsus, of which the bone is greatly expanded. The leg- 
bone, or tibia, generally has no bony bridge at the lower end. The furcula is 
always weak, and it may be incomplete or even wanting. The feathers are pro¬ 
vided with aftershafts ; and the number in the tail is, except in one genus, ten. If 
