CHARACTERISTIC BIRDS. 
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juices of shrubs and flowers. This is further evinced by 
the Broad-tailed Parrakeets, of which many species are 
found on the continent of Australia, in whose forests 
they congregate in vast numbers. Among the former 
may be counted the King Lory, specimens of which are 
not unfrequently found in our zoological collections; 
while among the latter we have the Grass Parrakeet 
and the Corella, which are now quite common with us. 
Further, it is in this Archipelago, in New Guinea, and 
in the Papuan Islands, that the Pigmy Parrot ( Nasiterna 
pygmcea ) is found, a bird scarcely larger than our Siskin. 
Of the Passeres we find many species, some of which 
are very singular, in the Southern Archipelago. In 
the Sandwich Islands there is a very curious bird 
which reminds us of our Crossbill, though it cannot 
possibly be reckoned amongst granivorous birds,— 
I mean the Parrot Finch ( Psittirostra psittacea). On 
the continent of Australia, and in the Papuan Islands, 
there are gorgeous Finches, which, in spite of their 
relationship to the African birds, differ widely from 
these in form, as well as in colour and markings: the 
different kinds of Waxbills, &c. ( Poephila , Chloebia, 
Amblynurd), which may, perhaps, be considered the 
most beautiful of all true Finches. The family of the 
Gorvidce , or Crows, is still more profusely represented. Of 
these the most noteworthy are the Birds of Paradise: 
they, for the most part, frequent the primaeval forests of 
New Guinea, “that enchanted land of the ornithologist, 
where the birds verily appear to be made of gold and 
precious stones.” It is no wonder that the history of 
these beauteous creatures was, in former ages, encircled 
with dark and dreamy legends ; for, of a truth, the Bird of 
Paradise seems the very embodiment of a fairy tale. In 
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