PARROTS AND MACAWS 
Parrots and macaws are favorites with zoos and private aviaries because 
of their brilliant plumage and their ability to repeat human speech. Their 
thick fleshy tongues and the special construction of their voice apparatus 
permit a wide range of articulations, but the ability is purely imitative 
and involves little or no comprehension. 
The birds of this group are inhabitants of the dense jungles of the 
tropical regions of the world and are, with few exceptions, tree-livers. 
These birds exhibit many curious habits. The gentle and affectionate 
lories lap up the nectar of flowers by means of their brush-like tongues. The 
rapacious keas are known to kill sheep by alighting on their backs and 
tearing through their bodies until the kidneys are reached. The great black 
cockatoo has a bill so powerful that it can break a kanary nut, which is 
so hard that it usually requires a heavy hammer to crack it. The crested 
cockatiels can be taught to perform many tricks. Smallest of the entire 
group is the pigmy parrot of New Guinea, often no more than two inches 
long. Parakeets often frequent the cultivated grounds and gardens of India, 
where they cause much destruction to the grain fields and orchards. The 
budgerigar, one of the prettiest of the smaller parakeets, is, however, an 
unpopular pet, for it attacks all the smaller birds in the aviary unless 
placed in a separate enclosure. The modest love-birds derive their name 
from the legend that mated love-birds pine away when separated from one 
another. The hanging parrots of India are unique in that they have the bat¬ 
like habit of sleeping head downward, suspended by the feet from a bough. 
The night-feeding kakapos, or owl-parrots, have completely lost the power 
of flight. By day they are easily caught, blinking stupidly at their captors. 
Of all the talkers, however, the African gray parrot is the most loquacious. 
Parrots: Yellow-shouldered Amazon Parrot. 
Double Yellow-headed Parrot. 
Macaws: Red and Blue Macaw. 
Blue and Yellow Macaws. 
121 
