9 2 
PARROTS. 
an oil-gland is present it is furnished with a tuft of feathers. Finally, the young 
are born in a nearly naked and completely helpless condition; and the eggs are 
usually, if not invariably, white. 
Distribution and For the most part parrots are thoroughly arboreal and climbing 
Habits. birds; and are essentially characteristic of the tropical and subtropical 
regions of the globe. At the present day none inhabit Europe, although the 
remains of an extinct species, apparently allied to a living West African species, 
have been obtained from the Miocene rocks of France. In America one species 
extends as far south as the Straits of Magellan, while another ranges far into the 
United States; and in the Macquarie Islands of the Australian region, the group 
extends as far south as the 55th parallel. Although ranging over all the warmer 
regions of the globe, these birds are very unequally distributed, being poorly re- 
COCKATOOS AT HOME. 
presented in India, and still more so in Africa, while in Malaysia and Australia 
they attain their maximum diversity of type, and in South America their greatest 
numerical development. 
All the parrots make their nests in the hollows of trees, where they usually 
lay from two to three white eggs, although in the case of some of the smaller species 
the number is often considerably more. Frequently the males take their share in 
the work of incubation, which generally lasts for about twenty-one days. The 
young parrots are fed by the parents disgorging half-digested food from their own 
crops into their open mouths, after the manner of pigeons. The food of the adult 
consists in most cases of various fruits and nuts. Regarding their general habits, 
and the important part these birds play in tropical scenery, Mr. Wallace writes 
as follows : “ They usually feed in flocks; they are noisy, and so attract attention ; 
they love gardens, orchards, and open sunny places; they wander about far in 
search of food, and towards sunset return homewards in noisy flocks or in constant 
pairs. Their forms and motions are often beautiful and attractive. The immensely 
