LOVE-BIRDS. 
129 
popular and scientific titles on account of the attachment the pairs appear to 
entertain for one another. Mr. W. T. Greene remarks, however, that a single bird 
will live in captivity for years without any apparent signs of pining, and will 
actually become more attached to its owner than if it formed one of a pair. And 
he adds that the reason why if one of a pair dies the other generally soon follows 
its companion, is that the constitutions of the two have been undermined by the 
hardships of the voyage to Europe; thus demolishing the pretty fable that the 
death of the survivor of a pair is due to inconsolable grief at the loss of its mate. 
The love - birds, of which the 
largest does not exceed 6 | inches in 
length, differ from all the other 
members of the subfamily, in that the 
thick and deep beak has no ridge 
along the inferior surface of the 
; and 
1 y the 
shortness of the tail, which is marked 
with a black band near the extremity. 
Their skeletons are peculiar, in that 
the furcula is absent. In the latter 
respect as well as in their small size, 
and the occasional difference in the 
coloration of the two sexes, the love¬ 
birds resemble the American par- 
rotlets (p. 119), with which they 
have frequently been classed. They 
may, however, be at once distin¬ 
guished from the latter by their 
rounded instead of pointed tail- 
feathers. The love-birds, of which 
there are seven species, are confined to Africa south of the Sahara and Madagascar, 
although they have been introduced into the Mascarene Islands. The rosy-faced 
species (Agapornis roseicollis ) belongs to a group in which the rump and upper 
tail-coverts are blue, and the under wing-coverts green. In both sexes the 
general colour is green, becoming yellowish beneath; the rump and upper tail- 
coverts being light blue, the forehead bright red, and the sides of the face and 
throat rose-colour. This species inhabits South-Western Africa from Angola to 
Namaqualand, and is also reported from the opposite side of the continent, in 
the neighbourhood of the Limpopo. The two sexes are almost undistinguishable 
in this species. 
Andersson writes that these love-birds are common in Namaqualand, and are 
met with in small flocks, never far removed from the vicinity of water. Their 
flight is rapid; and while on the wing they utter their sharp cry. Their food 
consists of berries and large berry-like seeds. Instead of making nests for 
themselves, they take possession of those of other birds; but Andersson was 
unable to ascertain whether they did so by dispossessing the rightful owners, or 
VOL. iv .—9 
symphysis of its lower mandible 
they are further distinguished 1 
