Chapter XVI: Introduction (15)

Group (_g_).–The seventh section of the Peristerinae is characterized by metallic spots near the ear-coverts and an iridescent gloss on the sides of the neck. _Melopelia leucoptera_, found from Texas to Costa Rica and the West Indies, and the very similar _M. meloda_ of Peru and Chili, have a white wing-patch. One of the notes resembles a cock's crow. _Nesopelia_, of the Galápagos, links these closely to _Zenaida_, with six members, found from the Florida Keys, Yucatan, and the Antilles, through South America to Patagonia. _Z. amabilis_, the Pea- or Mountain-Dove of the islands from the Florida Keys to Antigua, is reddish-olive, with vinous head and breast, two peacock-blue ear-spots, black blotches on the scapulars and wing-coverts, black remiges, and a white band across the secondaries. Chiefly terrestrial, it roosts and nests either on trees or on the ground, the flight being swift, and the note very soft. _Zenaidura carolinensis_, the Mourning-Dove of North America, including Southern Canada, is not unlike the above, but has the crown, sides of the body, and edges of the wings blue, and in the male the breast purplish. Small flocks often frequent the neighbourhood of houses, while the flight is strong, the note guttural and melancholy, the food of grain, berries, acorns, shoots of plants, and apparently worms. The nest is placed indifferently on the earth or aloft.

Sub-fam. 3. _Columbinae._–_Ectopistes migratorius_, the well-known Passenger-Pigeon, breeds in eastern North America, chiefly in Canada and the adjoining United States, and wanders to the Pacific and Cuba. Its immense colonies are seemingly a thing of the past, though as lately as 1888 a northward flight crossed Michigan, where in 1878, at Petosky, the "roost," or area occupied, is said to have been twenty-eight miles long by three or four broad. The trees were often laden with nests, and during a stay of five weeks several millions of birds are stated to have been captured, chiefly by means of nets and decoys; though earlier authors, such as Wilson, mention many different methods of slaughter. The parents were very noisy, and covered vast distances in search of food; but, save for the sharp call-note, and the single egg, the other habits were as in most arboreal Pigeons.

_Coryphoenas crassirostris_, of the Solomon Islands, a slate-coloured species with brownish head and crest, resembles in its {343}very stout bill and long graduated rectrices _Reinwardtoenas reinwardti_, ranging from Celebes to Papuasia, and _R. browni_, of the Duke of York Island and New Britain. In the two last-named the head is grey, the under parts are white, and the naked orbits red, the former having the back chestnut, the latter black. Closely allied are the two dozen Pheasant-like members of _Macropygia_, with elongated wedge-shaped tails, from the Indian and Australian Regions, which have rich chestnut, purplish-brown, or cinnamon plumage, with darker shading and iridescent sheen, chiefly confined to the upper surface. The head is usually lighter, the under parts are often buff or vinaceous, and the irides parti-coloured; the naked orbits vary in tint. Inhabiting bushy country or hills up to about eight thousand feet, they fly but short distances, feeding upon the ground on seeds and berries, and uttering a loud monotonous note. _M. tusalia_, the Cuckoo-Dove, occurs from North India to West China; _M. leptogrammica_ inhabits the Malay Countries; several other species carry the range to the Moluccas; _M. tenuirostris_ occupies the Philippine and Sulu Islands; _M. phasianella_ the eastern half of Australia; _M. doreya_ and so forth New Guinea and its islands; _M. rufa_ the New Hebrides; _M. rufo-castanea_ the Solomons. The two last-named have bifurcated breast-feathers.

_Turacoena menadensis_, of Celebes, the Togian and Sula Islands, is slate-black with golden-green occiput, neck, and breast, white face and throat, and naked red orbits; _T. modesta_, of Timor, has the orbits yellow, and lacks the white. _Turturoena delegorgii_, of Natal, is slaty-black, with a chestnut mantle surmounted by a white band, lilac and green reflexions on the occiput, neck, and chest, vinous under parts, and bare pink orbits. The female is brownish-grey, having a cinnamon head and nape glossed with green, but no white collar. _T. sharpii_, of East Equatorial Africa, differs in its green crown and nuchal region; _T. iriditorques_, found from the Gaboon to Liberia, lacks the white band, and has the lateral rectrices tipped with buff; _Nesoenas mayeri_, of Mauritius, is reddish-brown, with pink head, neck, and lower surface.

The cosmopolitan genus _Columba_ contains nearly sixty members, of which comparatively few inhabit the Palaearctic and Nearctic Regions; the general coloration is blue, relieved by black and rufous, or a metallic red and green sheen. Want of space forbids a description of every form, and the following are in no definite order: but _C. palumbus_, _C. laurivora_, _C. bollii_, _C. trocaz_, {344}_C. leucocephala_, and so forth, are Wood-Pigeons; _C. livia_, _C. schimperi_, _C. affinis_, _C. intermedia_, and _C. leuconota_ are true Rock-Pigeons; _C. oenas_ and its nearest allies being somewhat intermediate. _C. rufina_, extending from Guatemala to Peru and Brazil, and _C. speciosa_, ranging further north to Mexico, are especially ruddy; _C. ianthina_, of Japan and the Liu-Kiu Islands, is unusually metallic; _C. grisea_, of Borneo and Sumatra, is mainly light grey; _C. polleni_, of the Comoro Islands, olive-brown; _C. arquatrix_, of Eastern and South-Western Africa, is flecked with white above and below; _C. speciosa_, only on the hind neck; _C. guinea_, of Western and North-Eastern Africa, has bifurcated neck-feathers and triangular white wing-spots; _C. leucocephala_, of the Florida Keys, Bahamas, Antilles, and Honduras, and _C. leucomela_, of East Australia, have the crown, and the latter the neck and under parts white; _C. leuconota_, the "Snow-Pigeon" of Kashmir, Yarkand, and Tibet, has the neck, lower back, and breast white; _C. palumbus_, our Ring-Dove, Wood-Pigeon, Cushat, or Queest, the habits of which are universally known, extends through the Palaearctic Region from Madeira and the Azores to Persia; it differs from the smaller and darker Stock-Dove (_C. oenas_), of the same Region eastward to Turkestan, by the white patches on the sides of its neck and the white wing-bar. _C. livia_, the Rock-Dove, from which our domestic races have sprung, is easily distinguishable from other British species by the white rump and the two black alar bands. The breeding habits of our native birds, and the damage done by flocks of Wood-Pigeons, partly composed of immigrants, have already been mentioned (p. 328). _Columba laurivora_ and _C. bollii_, which lays but one egg, are peculiar to the Canary Islands; _C. trocaz_ to Madeira, _C. torringtoniae_ to Ceylon, _C. palumboïdes_ to the Andamans and Nicobars, _C. metallica_ to Timor, _C. gymnophthalma_, apparently to Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire, and several forms to Samoa, the Liu-Kiu, Bonin, Fiji, and other groups. _C. araucana_ reaches the Straits of Magellan.

_Gymnophaps albertisi_, of New Guinea, is grey, with whitish breast, purplish-chestnut under parts elsewhere, and naked red orbits.

Sub-fam. 4. _Treroninae._–This includes the Fruit-Pigeons in the widest sense, natives of the Old World, of which the bigger are contained in the first eight genera. _Hemiphaga novae zealandiae_, of New Zealand, is green, with brilliant coppery reflexions, brownish-purple back, and white abdomen; _H. spadicea_, of {345}Norfolk Island, and _H. chathamensis_, of the Chatham group, have greyer wing-coverts and green nape. _Lopholaemus antarcticus_, of Eastern Australia, is grey, with a fine rufous crest, black remiges, black rectrices banded with grey, and bare reddish orbits; the neck-feathers being hackled as in _Caloenas_. In _Myristicivora_ the general plumage is white, but _M. bicolor_, of the Malay Archipelago, has black wing-quills and tip to the tail; the similar _M. spilorrhoa_ of Australia and Papuasia, the yellower _M. subflavescens_ of New Ireland, and the blacker-tailed _M. melanura_ of the Moluccas, have black spots near the vent; _M. luctuosa_, of Celebes and the Sula Islands, has the remiges nearly grey.

_Phaenorrhina goliath_, of New Caledonia and the Isle of Pines, is slaty-black, with maroon patches on the wing-coverts and abdomen, black quills, and a broad chestnut tail-bar.

The forty to fifty species of _Carpophaga_ range from India to Hainan and Fiji. _C. concinna_, found in the Moluccas, Tenimber, Ké, and Aru Islands, is metallic bronzy-green with grey head and lower surface; _C. aenea_, extending from India and Ceylon to Hainan and Flores, has more vinaceous lower parts and greener tail; _C. latrans_, of Fiji, is nearly brown above; _C. zoeae_, of Papuasia, has a chestnut mantle and black pectoral band. _C. griseipectus_, of the Philippines, has a grey back with blackish-green spots, and a chestnut lower breast; _C. basilica_, of the Halmahera group, has a pinkish-white head and upper breast, a rufous lower breast, and a broad grey tip to the tail; _C. cuprea_, of Southern India, is brown, with white throat, greyish-pink head, neck, mantle, and under parts; _C. poecilorrhoa_, of North Celebes, is glossy greenish-black above with grey head, mantle, and chest, and brown breast with ochre markings; _C. pinon_, of New Guinea and the Western Papuan Islands, is slaty-grey with a white forehead, a ring of white feathers round the naked red orbits, and a purplish-chestnut lower breast. Large flocks commonly gather after breeding. The seven species of _Globicera_, remarkable for a fleshy knob at the base of the bill, may be represented by _C. pacifica_, ranging from New Guinea to Samoa, and _C. rubricera_, of New Ireland, New Britain, New Hanover, and the Duke of York Island. The former has a grey head, bronzy-green upper parts, bluer remiges and rectrices and pinkish lower surface, the knob being black. The latter has a vinous head, grey mantle, chestnut abdomen, and red knob. {346}_Serresius galeatus_, of the Marquesas Islands, noted for the feathered skin or "saddle" covering half the culmen, is deep glossy green, with dark grey head and under parts. All these Fruit-Pigeons feed and build on lofty trees, and seldom, if ever, descend to the ground–possessing short legs and broad-soled grasping feet; they have a powerful rapid flight and utter varied notes, occasionally deep and booming like a wild beast's roar; they eat vast quantities of fruit, and some are very fond of mice; while they normally lay two eggs, but exceptionally one.

The five splendid species of _Megaloprepia_ occupy the Northern Moluccas, Papuasia, and Eastern Australia. _M. magnifica_ of the latter country has a greenish-grey head and neck, golden-green upper parts with an oblique yellow band on the wing-coverts, rich purple breast and abdomen, and yellow vent. _M. formosa_ of the Halmahera group lacks the yellow on the wings and has, in the male only, a crimson patch on the greenish breast. The other three species are barely separable. The habits resemble those of _Carpophaga_, the note being peculiarly hoarse.

_Alectoroenas_ comprises four remarkable forms from Madagascar and the neighbouring islands, of which _A. nitidissima_ of Mauritius has become extinct within historic times, three specimens being still extant at Port Louis, Paris, and Edinburgh respectively. This species, called "Pigeon hollondais" from its colours, which are those of the Dutch flag, is indigo-blue, with white head and neck, vermilion tail-coverts and tail edged with black, and red carunculated orbits, lores, and forehead. _A. madagascariensis_, of Madagascar and Nossibé Island, has most of the neck slaty-grey, but the head blue, and the tail crimson with a wash of blue and green at the base, while the naked skin only surrounds the eyes. _A. pulcherrima_ of the Seychelles, to which the name of "Pigeon hollondais" has been transferred, has the neck and breast grey, the upper parts, including the tail, black with blue reflexions, the crown crimson, the orbits, lores, and forehead wattled. _A. sganzini_ of the Comoro Islands differs in having a grey head and only the orbits bare. Throughout the genus the long, loosely webbed and bifurcated neck-feathers resemble hackles in appearance. The members are, according to circumstances, tame and stupid, or shy and wary; they are arboreal and fly powerfully, while they feed on dates, figs, berries and grain, the flocks being very destructive to rice-crops. _Drepanoptila holosericea_, of New Caledonia and {347}the Isle of Pines, with its feathered white metatarsi and fork-tipped primaries, is green, with grey wing- and tail-bars, white throat and yellow abdomen, the last being divided from the breast by a yellowish-white and a black band.

Of the smaller Fruit-Pigeons, which differ but little in habits from the larger, the lovely genus _Chrysoenas_ is confined to Fiji. _C. luteovirens_ has an olive-yellow head, and a bright yellow abdomen and collar; the remaining plumage being yellow, more or less tinged with green, especially on the wings and tail. The feathers of the neck and back are narrowly lanceolate and the tail-coverts long. The female is green, with a yellow wash below, and has nearly brown remiges. _C. victor_ is bright orange, with olive-yellow head and throat and browner wing-quills; the coverts almost conceal the tail, but the long decomposed body-feathers are not especially narrow. The female is green, with yellowish head and orange-margined remiges. _C. viridis_ is dark green, with a golden hue on the back and breast, the head being almost yellow, as are the edges of the quills. The female is green, with grey vent-region. The seventy or more brilliantly coloured members of the genus _Ptilopus_ range from the Malay Peninsula to the Marquesas; New Guinea and Polynesia accounting for a large majority. The following are some of the most striking. _P. jambu_ of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, Bangka, and Billiton has the front half of the head crimson, the upper parts bright green, the primaries black, margined with bluish-green, the tip of the tail yellowish, and the under parts white, with a purplish-brown streak down the throat, a rosy smear on the breast, and a red-brown anal region. The female has dull purple on the head and a greyish-green breast. The following three species have bifurcated breast-feathers. _P. dupetit-thouarsi_ of the Marquesas has the crown whitish, encircled by a yellowish line, the upper surface green with yellow margins to the wing-quills and tip to the tail, the scapulars and inner secondaries spotted with blue, the under parts yellowish-green, with a cherry-coloured patch surrounded by orange on the breast, the throat and vent pale yellow. _P. swainsoni_ of Eastern Australia, straying to South-East New Guinea, has a rose-lilac forehead and crown with a yellow margin behind, bright green upper parts with yellow edges to the wing-quills and peacock-blue tips to the inner secondaries and scapulars, a yellow tip to the tail, a {348}pale yellow throat, a dull green breast with silvery grey tips to the feathers, and a lilac band dividing this from the orange abdomen. The female is rather brighter green. _P. superbus_ of the Moluccas, Papuasia and North Australia, has a purple cap, rufous-orange nape and sides of the neck, rich green upper surface, with deep blue spots on the scapulars and wings and a patch of the same colour at the bend of the latter, black primaries with yellow margins, a whitish throat, and a purple and grey breast, separated from the white abdomen and green and white vent by a broad violet-black band. The female has green upper parts, with blue spots on the wing-region and one on the occiput, and a grey and green breast. _P. insolitus_ of New Ireland, New Britain, and the Duke of York Island, with its curious orange frontal knob, is green, with grey lesser wing-coverts and inner secondaries, a grey-tipped tail, an orange abdomen, and a yellowish vent-region. _P. aurantiifrons_ of Papuasia has a yellowish-green head with orange forehead; a white throat; grey neck, upper breast, tip of the tail, and spots on the scapulars and wing-coverts; the remaining plumage being chiefly green. _P. nanus_ of the same districts, the smallest of the Sub-family, is bronzy-green with a greyish band on each side of the breast, a yellow vent, and a purple abdominal patch, lacking in the female. _Phabotreron_ is a group of similar species confined to the Philippines. _P. amethystina_ is bronzy-brown with an amethystine nape and lower surface, the cheeks are crossed by a black line over a white one, the throat is reddish, the tip of the tail grey. The lines on the cheeks and a rounded tail are characteristic of the genus.

The remaining members of the Treroninae are of a greenish or yellowish coloration, generally varied with patches or bands of dull purple, red, orange, or lilac–nearly or quite absent in the females, except in _Vinago_, where the sexes are similar. This genus is Ethiopian, while the others reach from India eastward to Japan, Formosa, and the Moluccas. _Osmotreron_ contains a dozen and a half species, of which the following may serve as examples. _O. vernans_, ranging from the Malay countries to Cochin-China, the Philippines, and Celebes, has a greyish head and throat, vinaceous-purple neck, dull green upper parts, yellowish-green lower surface with an orange pectoral patch, rufescent upper and chestnut under tail-coverts; the wing-quills are black with yellow margins to the coverts, and the grey tail exhibits a black {349}subterminal bar on the lateral feathers. The small _O. olax_ of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo, has the back maroon, the head and neck grey. _O. pompadora_ of Ceylon has the forehead and throat yellow, the mantle maroon, and the median rectrices green. _O. aromatica_ of Bouru differs in having no yellow forehead, and the bend of the wing blackish.

_Treron nipalensis_ and the very closely allied _T. nasica_ are found from Bengal and Nepal to the Indo-Malay Islands, the Philippines, and Cochin-China; they have grey heads, chestnut mantles, black wings with yellow edges to the coverts and secondaries, cinnamon under tail-coverts, grey lateral rectrices banded with black, and green plumage elsewhere. _Butreron capellii_, of the Malay Peninsula and neighbouring islands, has the head and upper parts greyish-green, the wings nearly as in the last species, the throat and abdomen yellowish-green, the breast orange, and the under tail-coverts chestnut.

_Crocopus_, with its three similar members, extends from India and Ceylon to Cochin-China. _C. chlorigaster_ has a grey head and tail, a yellowish-green neck and under surface, a grey band across the mantle, a yellow alar bar, an olive-green back and rump, a purple patch at the bend of the wing, and rufous and white lower tail-coverts.

Half a dozen species of _Vinago_ range from Senegambia and Abyssinia to Madagascar and Cape Colony. _V. waalia_, found from West to North-East Africa, has a greenish-grey head and neck, olive upper parts, blackish-brown remiges with yellow outer margins, a rich vinous patch on the wing-coverts, a slaty-blue tail, a bright yellow breast, and a buff abdomen. _V. calva_, of the Ethiopian Region northward of Angola and the Zambesi, has a curious bare forehead and frontal swelling, a yellowish-green head, neck, and lower surface, and a grey collar at the base of the hind-neck. _V. crassirostris_ is confined to St. Thomas and Rollas Islands, West Africa; _V. australis_ to Madagascar. _Sphenocercus_, with some eight members, having wedge-shaped tails and a general resemblance in colour, reaches from North India, Sumatra, Borneo, and Java, to Japan and Formosa. _S. sphenurus_, of the Himalayas and the Burmese countries, has the head, neck, and under parts greenish-yellow with a rufous tinge, the back purplish- and bluish-green, the rump and wing-coverts olive with a maroon patch on the latter, and the remiges slaty-black with yellow {350}margins. _S. sieboldi_ is peculiar to Japan, _S. sororius_ and _S. formosae_ to Formosa, _S. permagnus_ to the Liu-Kiu Islands.

Comparatively few fossil forms of the Columbidae have been discovered, but _Columba_ occurs in the Lower Miocene of France and in Malta, while _Lithophaps ulnaris_ and _Progura gallinacea_ are recorded from the Queensland Drifts, and _Alectoroenas? rodericana_ is an extinct species from Rodriguez.

{351}CHAPTER VI

NEORNITHES CARINATAE _CONTINUED_

BRIGADE II–LEGION II (CORACIOMORPHAE). ORDERS: CUCULIFORMES–CORACIIFORMES

ORDER XII. CUCULIFORMES.

The Order Cuculiformes commences the last great division of Carinate Birds. It contains the Sub-Orders CUCULI and PSITTACI; the former consisting of the Families _Cuculidae_, or Cuckoos, and _Musophagidae_, or Plantain-eaters; the latter of the _Psittacidae_, or Parrots, Parrakeets, Macaws, and Cockatoos, and the _Trichoglossidae_, or Lory group. Zygodactylous feet (p. 10) are characteristic of the Order, while further structural details are to be found below. Dr. Gadow confirms the close connexion of the two Sub-Orders.[214]

Fam. I. CUCULIDAE.–Here we may accept, in default of full anatomical investigation, the Sub-families of Captain Shelley,[215] namely, (1) _Cuculinae_, (2) _Centropodinae_, (3) _Phaenicophainae_, (4) _Neomorphinae_, (5) _Diplopterinae_, and (6) _Crotophaginae_.

The bill is generally long and curved, being strongly arched in _Hyetornis_, _Piaya_, _Taccocua_, and _Zanclostomus_; it is straight in _Saurothera_ and _Rhinortha_, abnormally large in _Rhamphomantis_ and _Scythrops_, and has the maxilla compressed into a thin elevated plate in _Crotophaga_. The scutellated metatarsi are commonly stout, and are especially long in the cursorial genera _Coua_ and _Geococcyx_; in _Centropus_ the hallux terminates in an elongated spur-like claw. The wings are long and straight in the Cuculinae, Diplopterinae, and Crotophaginae, short and curved elsewhere; the primaries numbering ten, and the secondaries usually nine or ten, but thirteen in _Scythrops_; in the Neomorphinae the quills are about equal in extent. The rounded {352}or wedge-shaped tail is nearly always long, and has ten feathers, except in the Crotophaginae, which have eight; it is forked in two species of _Surniculus_. _Diplopterus_ has the upper coverts half as long as the rectrices, _Dromococcyx_ has them of the entire length. The impervious nostrils, usually pierced in a swollen membrane, are hidden by bristly plumes in _Dasylophus_ and _Lepidogrammus_. The furcula is Y-shaped, the tongue is sagittate with retroverted spines on the posterior margin, the syrinx is tracheo-bronchial or occasionally bronchial. Distinct eyelashes are often visible, the after-shaft is rudimentary or absent, the nestlings are naked, and down is only found in adults on the unfeathered spaces.

The plumage of the more typical Cuckoos is brownish or grey, usually with barred under parts, the long flank-feathers covering half the metatarsi; _Chrysococcyx_, however, contains several beautiful emerald-green forms; while _Chalcococcyx_ is scarcely less brilliant; but _Surniculus_ and _Cuculus clamosus_ are black. _Crotophaga_ is also black. _Coccystes_, and several species of _Coua_, have well-developed crests, while _Lepidogrammus_ has a rounded tuft, _Guira_ one of long narrow plumes, and _Geococcyx mexicanus_ an erectile patch. Fork-tipped feathers on the head and neck are not uncommon. The colour of the bill, feet, and iris varies much; the cheeks and orbits are often naked, and may be bright red, blue, or greyish, as in the Phoenicophainae and Centropodinae. Strong glossy feather-shafts, often with filiform extremities, are found in _Coua_, _Taccocua_, _Phoenicophaës_, _Rhopodytes_ and elsewhere, on the head, neck, mantle and chest; _Crotophaga_ has stiff, scale-like borders, and _Lepidogrammus_ metallic horny tips, to the feathers of the first two of these; _Dasylophus_ has fine crimson hair-like tufts springing from above each eye. The beak may be black, green, yellowish, or even, as in _Rhamphococcyx_, chiefly red. The sexes are alike in most cases.

The Ethiopian and Indian Regions are richest in Cuculidae. New Zealand possesses only two species; but Madagascar, besides other forms, claims the entire genus _Coua_. In all there are more than a hundred and sixty species of some forty-two genera.

Sub-fam. 1. _Cuculinae_.–_Cuculus canorus_, the familiar Cuckoo of Britain and nearly all the Old World, is greyish-brown above and on the throat, the lower parts being white barred with dusky, and the wings and tail shewing a few white markings. A chestnut-brown or "hepatic" phase is sometimes met with. {353}The young are brown mottled with white on the nape. Its flight and general coloration give the Cuckoo a distinctly Hawk-like appearance, and cause it to be systematically mobbed by small birds, while ignorant peasants persecute it mercilessly, and assert that it "changes to a Hawk" in winter. Certain other members of the Family have the same raptorial aspect, notably the Asiatic Hawk-Cuckoo (_Hierococcyx_); whereas several of the Centropodinae unconsciously mimic Pheasants in their colour, in their red orbits and their wedge-shaped tail. _Geococcyx_ is still more like a Galline bird in some respects; and _Surniculus_ is a decidedly good imitation of a Drongo (Dicruridae).

In early April the Cuckoo's note heralds the approaching summer in Britain, and continues to be heard until June, after which it becomes hoarser and the first syllable is doubled; in July the adults begin to disappear, yet stray examples–chiefly, if not entirely, young–remain up to October, when they migrate as far as South Africa, Ceylon, and Celebes. None breed south of North Africa and the Himalayas. The eggs are invariably deposited in the nests of other birds, which rear the intruder and feed it until it leaves the country; but it is doubtful how many are {354}produced in a season–possibly five or six–or whether the same hen ever places two or more in one nest. It is now certain that the egg is laid on the ground and conveyed to the chosen nursery in the bill, an occurrence said to have been actually witnessed by Adolf Müller, a forester in Darmstadt.

Closely connected with the above parasitic habit is the question of the colour of the egg. Red or blue specimens have undoubtedly been found in Germany and elsewhere, as well as the typical brown or greyish varieties; but they do not always assimilate to those of the foster-parent, albeit to the eggs of Pipits, Wagtails, and so forth, that of a Cuckoo is often exactly similar. The theories advanced to account for this are by no means conclusive, though hereditary habit may afford a clue; we may, however, be sure that the hen cannot determine the colour of her egg.

With us the most usual foster-parents are the Meadow-Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Reed Warbler, Hedge-Sparrow and Robin, perhaps in the above order. They seldom, if ever, seem to resent the intrusion, or to notice their consequent losses. The careful observations of Jenner, Hancock, and Mrs. Blackburn shew that the young Cuckoo, when some thirty hours old, begins unaided to remove from the nest the rightful progeny or unhatched eggs by means of its broad back, which has a central depression for the first twelve days; but after this hollow is filled up the desire is said to cease. It pushes below a nestling with its wings, and raises it with much exertion to the edge of the nest, finally ejecting it by a supreme effort.

The probable reason why the Cuckoo's egg often hatches first is the hen's habit of selecting nests with only one or two fresh eggs. Subsequently she neglects her offspring entirely. It is stated that the males, who alone utter the well-known notes, decidedly outnumber the females, and that no strict pairing takes place; while in the courting season a curious bubbling sound, attributed to the hen, may be heard as two or three individuals chase each other along the hedgerows. Wooded districts and bare hill-moors are equally frequented, trees being constantly used as perches. The quick, straight flight is varied by twists and swoops; the food consists of insects and their larvae, the stomach often becoming lined with hairs of caterpillars. Our Cuckoo does not eat eggs, but various foreign species add to their diet seeds and other fruits, land-molluscs, worms, frogs, lizards, small snakes, birds, and mice. _Chalcococcyx lucidus_ bruises its food before swallowing it.

{355}The genus _Coccystes_, of South Europe, Africa, and Tropical Asia, includes the Great Spotted Cuckoo (_C. glandarius_), which has twice occurred in Britain, a crested greyish-brown bird, with a yellowish throat, white under parts and markings above. In Southern Spain and Northern Africa it deposits from two to four eggs in the nests of the Magpies, _Pica rustica_, _P. mauritanica_, and _Cyanopica cooki_, or of the Grey Crow, _Corvus cornix_; these eggs, like those of the foster parents, being pale green with brown and lilac markings. The note of the male is "kee-ou, kee-ou" or "kark-kark", of the female "burroo-burroo." _C. coromandus_, chiefly greenish- and bluish-black above with rufous wings and white nuchal collar, and buff below with grey abdomen, ranges from India and Ceylon to China and Celebes, laying roundish, plain green-blue eggs in nests of _Crateropus_ and other birds, and having a true Cuckoo's note. _C. serratus_ of South Africa, which is greenish-black with a white alar band, is somewhat terrestrial, and lays a white egg in nests of _Pycnonotus_ and _Sigelus_.

_Surniculus lugubris_, extending from India to China and the Malay Islands, is black, with green and purple reflexions and a few scattered white markings. The tail is sometimes forked. _Cacomantis passerinus_, of India, Java, and Sumatra, is grey, having an olive gloss above, blue-black rectrices with white bars, and white abdomen. It frequents jungles, utters a plaintive series of whistles, continuing for hours, and lays bluish eggs with purplish, markings in various birds' nests. _C. virescens_ of Celebes and Bouru is said by Dr. Meyer to build its own nest. _Chrysococcyx smaragdineus_, of Tropical and Southern Africa, is a lovely emerald-green bird, with yellow breast and white-barred lateral rectrices. The female has a partially rufous head and mantle, coppery, bronze, and green upper parts, and white lower surface banded with green. The males whistle loudly to their mates for long periods, perched on tall trees, or hawk for insects in the air. _C. cupreus_, of the same countries, is in both sexes coppery-green varied with white above, and white with bronzy bars below; it is called "Di-dric" from its cry, and lays white eggs in Sun-birds' and Finches' nests. The similarly coloured _Chalcococcyx lucidus_ of Australia, New Zealand, and the Chatham Islands has a reiterated plaintive note, with the effect of ventriloquism, and foists its greenish-white eggs with brown spots upon _Acanthiza_ and _Gerygone_.

Of _Eudynamis_, ranging from India and Ceylon to Australia {356}and Polynesia, the black males are barely distinguishable, but the females vary, and are black, brown, rufous, and white. _E. honorata_, the noisy Indian Koël, has a loud melodious or hoarse whistling note, supposed to portend rain; it feeds on fruit, and lays from one to four greenish eggs with brown and grey blotches in nests of Crows. _E. melanorhyncha_ is the "foreteller at night" of Celebes.[216] The extraordinary _Scythrops novae hollandiae_, or Channel-bill, of Australia, Papuasia, and the Moluccas, has a grey head, brownish back, and whitish under parts with indistinct dusky bars, the tail exhibiting a subterminal blackish and a terminal white band. The large maxilla has two lateral grooves, the bare lores and orbits are scarlet. This big bird flies like a Hawk, and is possibly parasitic; while eggs, taken from the oviduct, are white with pinkish-brown spots. The weird cry or shriek is syllabled krok, and the flocks feed on fruits and insects.

_Coccyzus americanus_, the Yellow-billed Cuckoo of America, has occurred in Britain, and ranges from the Great Plains, Canada, and New Brunswick to Argentina; it is an arboreal species, pairing and building–apparently twice a year–a slight flat nest of twigs, grass, and moss, lined with leaves. It lays from three to five light greenish eggs, and the hen feigns lameness when danger threatens the young. _C. occidentalis_ is a more western form. _C. erythrophthalmus_, the American Black-billed Cuckoo, has been killed in Ireland and Italy. The coloration in the eight members of this genus is brownish-grey, relieved by rufous, the under parts being buff or white.

Sub-fam. 2. _Centropodinae._–This group comprises only the thirty or more large Coucals (_Centropus_) of the Ethiopian Region, Egypt, Madagascar, India, and the countries thence to China, Papuasia, and Australia. _C. sinensis_, the Crow-Pheasant, extending from India and Ceylon to China, is black with purple and green reflexions, the mantle being chestnut; _C. unirufus_ of the Philippines is entirely rufous. They are strong-billed, long-legged birds with terrestrial tendencies, noisy yet often shy, which fly heavily, run, climb, leap, or glide with up-turned tail about the trees in forests and jungles, and utter a mellow "hoo-too" or a chuckle. The food consists of insects and their larvae, molluscs, reptiles, small mammals, and nestling birds. They make a large globular nest of twigs and leaves, or even of rushes, grass, and rags, {357}with a lateral hole; it is placed in a tree, a thorny bush, or a tuft of herbage. The three to six oval eggs are white or bluish with a readily-stained chalky coating; the young are soon able to skulk among the foliage. _C. toulou_ is held sacred in Madagascar.

Sub-fam. 3. _Phoenicophainae._–_Taccocua sirkee_, the Indian Sirkeer, has somewhat similar habits, but makes a flat nest. It is olive-brown above, relieved by black and white, and rufous below. _Coua_ is peculiar to Madagascar, _C. caerulea_ having loose blue plumage, glossed with violet on the tail, and dark blue naked orbits; but the other species are more olive or grey, with black or rufous on the head, throat, or mantle. The large, shy members of this handsome genus frequent the edges of forests; but whereas five species fly heavily and climb well, jumping from branch to branch with elevated rectrices, occasionally assisted by their beaks, the remaining seven rarely leave the ground, where they run about with the tail trailing. The note is a harsh "tashu" or a sharp "turruh"; the food consists of seeds, insects, worms, small mammals, birds, and molluscs–the last broken on stones; the nest of twigs and fibres is placed in high trees, and contains two or three white eggs.[217]

_Saurothera_, _Hyetornis_, and _Piaya_ are the "Rain-birds" of the Bahamas and Antilles, the latter genus extending to Bolivia and Argentina. They are inactive, wary birds, which hide and creep about with outspread tails when in the trees, but are more at ease upon the ground; the cry is a loud harsh scream or cackle; the food consists of insects, berries, lizards, and mice; the flat nest contains two or three white eggs. _P. cayana_ is reddish-brown above with a violet tinge, and grey below with pinkish throat; the tail shewing a subterminal black bar and a white tip, and the bare orbits being red. _Phoenicophaës pyrrhocephalus_ of Ceylon is dark green, with bluish wings, blackish head and chest, tail varied with white, and white breast; the forehead and sides of the head being red and rugose. It is a fruit-eating forest species, said to be parasitic, though the allied _Rhopodytes_ of the Indian Region lays two or three white eggs in a slight nest of sticks and leaves, while the pugnacious _Rhamphococcyx calorhynchus_, the "foreteller by day" of Celebes, builds a similar structure.[218]

Sub-fam. 4. _Neomorphinae._–_Geococcyx mexicanus_, the curious Chapparal-Cock or Road-runner of the South-Western United States and Mexico, frequents thinly-wooded country, hilly cactus-regions {358}or barren plains. The plumage is brownish, with white margins to the feathers and a purple tinge on the rufous-mottled head, neck, and breast; the back is greener, the tail more lilac, the abdomen white, the bare orbits blue and red. With its long stout legs this species covers the ground very quickly, running with outstretched neck, elevated crest, slightly expanded wings, and jerking tail, or springing into trees and taking brief flights: it is even difficult to outpace it with dogs or on horseback. It eats insects, snapping some in the bill as it leaps into the air, and enjoys grasshoppers, mice, and lizards; in captivity it is thievish. The note is low, the beak being occasionally clattered. The nest of twigs and grass, placed in bushes, contains from three to nine white eggs, the male apparently assisting in incubation. _Carpococcyx radiatus_ of Borneo, and _C. viridis_ of Sumatra, are the only Old World species in this group.

Sub-fam. 5. _Diplopterinae._–_Diplopterus naevius_, a pale brown {359}bird with darker streaks and white under surface, may represent this Central and South American group, of which the only other members are two species of _Dromococcyx_.

Sub-fam. 6. _Crotophaginae._–Of these birds, peculiar to the New World, _Crotophaga ani_, the Ani, Black Parrot, or Savannah-blackbird, extending from the Southern United States and the Antilles to most of South America, is glossy purplish- or greenish-black, and has the smooth maxilla compressed into a thin vertical plate, which, like the bare orbits, is black. Its grotesque appearance and alleged malpractices have given it the name of Black Witch in the West Indies. _C. sulcirostris_, ranging from Texas to Peru, has the bill grooved; _C. major_ of South America is larger and greener. Far from shifting the burden of incubation upon other species, the females form huge co-operative nests of interlaced twigs lined with green leaves in trees, wherein each deposits some five bluish eggs with a chalky incrustation, amounting in all to twenty or more. Around or upon these structures they sit in company. Bold but wary, the Anis flit from bush to bush, or creep and jump about the branches, uttering a mewing sound or a sharper double cry. They are often mobbed by other birds. Flocks gather in wooded or marshy spots, and feed on insects, berries, lizards, and so forth; occasionally digging for their prey, or picking the ticks off cattle.

_Guira piririgua_, of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina, is brown and buff above with darker streaks, and buff below, the back and tips of the lateral rectrices being white. From the similarity of habits to _Crotophaga_ it is termed the White Ani in Brazil. Flocks draw near the houses in winter, and sit miserably huddled together on the trees; the note is a long disyllabic whistle, or in the young an hysterical laugh. Usually each pair makes a rough nest of twigs and leaves, laying six or seven pale blue eggs with reticulated chalky coating; though fourteen have been recorded.

Fam. II. MUSOPHAGIDAE.–The Plantain-eaters are striking birds, peculiar to the Ethiopian Region, without Madagascar. They have large eyes and long necks; while the bill, though small in _Gallirex_, is generally stout and broad with compressed or rounded culmen and serrated margin, and in _Musophaga_ expands into a broad frontal plate behind. The feet are semi-zygodactylous, with reversible outer toe and strong claws; the robust metatarsi are scutellated anteriorly and coarsely granulated posteriorly. {360}The wings are rather short and round, with ten primaries and twelve or thirteen secondaries; the rounded tail of varying length has ten rectrices. The furcula is U-shaped; the tongue sagittate–with bristly apex in _Gallirex_; the nostrils–hidden in _Turacus_–are usually oval, but are linear in _Schizorhis_ and _Gymnoschizorhis_; the aftershaft is large; the nestlings lack down. The red or grey orbits are naked, save in _Schizorhis_; in _Gymnoschizorhis_ the cheeks and throat are bare and blackish.

The six genera comprise two dozen or more species from about thirty to fifteen inches in length; the general coloration being metallic blue and green or greyish-brown, usually varied with crimson, and in the large _Corythaeola_ with yellow; all have erectile crests of different sizes, except _Musophaga violacea_. The bill is red, yellowish, or black, the feet are black. The sexes are alike, the young duller. The red feathers yield a peculiar pigment, containing copper, called Turacin, which is reducible to a powder; this is so soluble that the colour is washed away during rain or in a bath, though regained subsequently.[219]

Plantain-eaters are found in pairs, or in small flocks of four to ten, over wooded country near inland or tidal waters, reaching an altitude of some ten thousand feet. The tops of high trees are {361}a favourite haunt, but they are not uncommonly seen amongst the tangled creepers below, flitting from shrub to shrub with undulating flight when disturbed, and alighting with crest erect and up-turned tail. Of some species the flight is clumsy and jerky, of others light and graceful; at times they hover in the air with outspread wings and tail, at times they sport and hop among the branches, expanding and depressing the rectrices. Familiar yet extremely shy and restless, these birds, when wounded, are particularly hard to secure, as they run with great swiftness, and even take refuge in holes in trees. During rain or in the mid-day heat they rest quietly on some bough, but at other times are usually noisy, their harsh reiterated screaming or ringing notes being varied by a cat-like mewing or dove-like sound. The food consists of bananas, tamarinds, papaw-apples, and other fruits, with insects, worms, caterpillars, molluscs, or even small birds. They are occasionally mobbed by their kin, as Cuckoos are. Though some species have been asserted to breed in holes, _Schizorhis concolor_ makes a flat nest in trees, and _Gymnoschizorhis leopoldi_ a loose platform of thorny twigs and roots, both species laying three round greenish- or bluish-white eggs. The flesh is considered a delicacy by the natives.

_Turacus_ (_Corythaix_) _fischeri_ of East Africa is green, washed with blue on the wings and tail, having a crimson crest tipped with black, a crimson hind neck with white nape, a blackish lower chest and abdomen, and black cheeks margined above and below with white; the remiges are crimson, edged with black, the bare orbits red. _T. corythaix_ is called the Lory in South Africa. _Musophaga violacea_ of West Africa is glossy violet-blue with darker tail, the crown and hind-neck being covered with short, hairy, crimson feathers and partially outlined with white; the chest is greenish, the frontal plate yellow; the wing-quills and orbits are as in _T. fischeri_. _Schizorhis concolor_ of South Africa is nearly uniform ash-coloured; _Gymnoschizorhis personata_ of Shoa is greyish-brown with paler crest, whitish head and neck, blackish naked cheeks and throat, and dirty green breast.

The remarkable fossil _Necrornis_ occurs in the Middle Miocene of France.

* * * * *

Of all existing Birds the Parrots (Sub-Order PSITTACI) are perhaps the most interesting to the public, being easily procurable, {362}docile, and long-lived pets of gorgeous coloration and amusing habits. The red-tailed Grey Parrot of Africa (_Psittacus erithacus_) is considered the best talker, yet, apart from individual ability, many species of _Palaeornis_, _Chrysotis_, and other genera, are equally clever, if we cannot say intelligent. Professor Skeat identifies the name Parrot with the French _Pierrot_; but, however that may be, Indian species have been known in Europe since the time of Alexander the Great, and one or more African forms were kept in ornamental cages, and even eaten, at Rome under Nero.

In default of a really satisfactory arrangement we may accept that of Dr. Gadow,[220] who agrees in the main with Count Salvadori,[221] and recognises the Family _Psittacidae_, with Sub-families _Stringopinae_, _Psittacinae_, and _Cacatuinae_; and the Family _Trichoglossidae_, with _Cyclopsittacinae_, _Loriinae_, and _Nestorinae_.

There are in all about eighty genera containing some five hundred species, but the variety arises chiefly from colour, while the beak alone would sufficiently determine the Family. This feature is usually short and stout, with strongly arched maxilla and mandible, the former being moveable and hinged to the skull, and the latter truncated. In _Nestor_ and _Loriculus_ the curve is more gradual and the depth less; in the Cyclopsittacinae and some Psittacinae the bill is distinctly notched; in the Stringopinae, Nestorinae, and other Psittacinae it is grooved; while a file-like surface with transverse ridges, below the overhanging hooked tip, distinguishes the Psittacidae from the Trichoglossidae. At the base is generally a large swollen cere, or a similar but very narrow band in various Psittacinae; in the Platycercine group this is very small, and it is more or less hidden by feathers in certain Psittacinae, Cacatuinae, Cyclopsittacinae, and Nestorinae. The feet are permanently zygodactylous, the metatarsus being short–except in Ground-Parrots–compressed, and covered with rugose scales. The abbreviated rounded wings of the terrestrial _Stringops_, where the keel of the sternum is correspondingly reduced, are comparatively useless; while these members, though usually moderate, may be long, as in _Nasiterna_ and _Cacatua_, or more acute, as in the Loriinae; the primaries are ten in number, the secondaries from eight to fourteen. The tail varies much, being short and square with projecting spiny shafts in _Nasiterna_, longer with {363}acuminate feathers in _Stringops_, moderate in the Loriinae and Cyclopsittacinae, elongated and wedge-shaped in _Conurus_, _Ara_, _Psittacula_, and many species of _Palaeornis_, long and broad in _Platycercus_ and _Cacatua_, and so forth. _Oreopsittacus_ possesses fourteen rectrices, every other genus twelve; in _Prioniturus_ the median pair have bare shafts and racquet-tips.

The U-shaped furcula is sometimes entirely absent; a completely ossified orbital ring occurs in the Cacatuinae, Stringopinae, and many Psittacinae; the tongue is short and fleshy, being fringed in the Nestorinae, or having a brush of hairs towards the tip in the Loriinae and _Nanodes_; the uniquely modified syrinx has three pairs of tracheal and tracheo-bronchial muscles; and a crop is present. The aftershaft is large, the down of the adults and young is uniform, the latter being naked when hatched.

The coloration is commonly gaudy, and particularly so in {364}Macaws; yet some species are sober in tint, and that of the beak and feet varies considerably in different forms. _Stringops_ has a disc of stiff feathers round the eye, _Nymphicus_ and the Cacatuinae possess crests, _Deroptyus_ broad erectile nape-plumes. Bare foreheads, cheeks or orbits, of a red, pink, blue, yellow, black, grey, or white hue are found in _Microglossus_, _Cacatua_, _Licmetis_, _Anodorhynchus_, _Cyanopsittacus_, _Ara_, _Poeocephalus_, _Psittacus_, _Coracopsis_, and _Dasyptilus_; while powder-down patches or tufts occur on the neck, shoulders, and sides of the Cacatuinae, _Psittacus_, and _Chrysotis_. The length varies from some thirty inches in the Great Black Cockatoo (_Microglossus_) to about three in the diminutive _Nasiterna pygmaea_. The name Macaw is applied to _Ara_ and its nearest allies, Love-bird to _Agapornis_ and _Psittacula_, Parakeet to _Platycercus_ and _Palaeornis_, Lorikeet to _Loriculus_, _Charmosyna_, and _Coriphilus_, Lory to _Eclectus_, _Trichoglossus_, _Lorius_, _Chalcopsittacus_, and _Eos_, King Lory to _Aprosmictus_.

Parrots usually feed and roost in company, though in _Eclectus_ the habits are said to be more solitary; the males are, however, monogamous, each courting a single female, which twitters and rolls the head from side to side when love-making. The haunts include wooded districts, grassy plains, or even rocky hills and sandy flats; _Stringops_ being almost entirely terrestrial, _Melopsittacus_ and _Neophema_ (Grass-Parakeets), with _Geopsittacus_ and _Pezoporus_ (Ground-Parakeets), being mainly so, while Cockatoos and many other forms habitually frequent high trees, though _Cacatua galerita_, _Licmetis nasica_, and several species of _Platycercus_ spend much time upon the ground. Most Parrots walk with considerable ease, and climb well; their flight is commonly low and undulating, but is comparatively strong in _Nestor_, the Macaws, the Lories, and the like; the last-named climb less, and often hop along the ground. _Loriculus_, when sleeping, generally hangs by one foot. Little drink seems necessary, as the vegetable food is ordinarily succulent; plantains, papaw-apples, figs, and tamarinds being varied by flowers, buds, leaves, hard palm-nuts, and fruits of _Platanus_, _Casuarina_, _Banksia_, _Cactus_, or _Capsicum_. Grass-Parakeets and their nearest allies subsist almost entirely on grass-seeds and grain, _Licmetis_ and some other Cockatoos dig for tubers and bulbs, _Calyptorhynchus_ and _Nestor_ search the bark of trees for insects, while the latter and the Loriinae suck honey from the flowers of _Phormium_ and _Eucalyptus_. _Nestor notabilis_, {365}the New Zealand Kea, eats the flesh of living sheep, an acquired taste as remarkable as it is destructive. Parrots alone among Birds habitually manipulate their food in their claws, these claws, moreover, greatly aiding them to creep about the branches or to cling to the mouth of their breeding-holes. The usual cry is harsh and discordant, Lories and Macaws making an especially deafening noise; but Cockatoos, besides their scream, utter a softer sound, _Loriculus_ has a monosyllabic note, _Nymphicus_ and _Melopsittacus_ quite a pretty warble. The female hisses when caught upon her eggs, and in captivity many forms talk and whistle. Holes in trees, crevices in cliffs or caves, cavities under stones or roots, and even shallow depressions in the soil, seldom with any bedding, serve for a nest; the spherical or somewhat pointed eggs, which are often deposited in confinement, being dull white, occasionally with a greenish tinge or brownish incubation-stains. The larger species usually lay one, two, or three, some of the smaller as many as twelve, the size varying greatly (pp. 367, 372). _Palaeornis_ habitually cuts a circular hole in rotten trees, and even bores to a depth of three feet; _Pezoporus_ is said to make a mass of grass and rushes in tussocks, _Myiopsittacus monachus_ a globular fabric with a side entrance; _Nasiterna_, _Psephotus_, _Cyanolyseus_, and _Conurus_ will breed in holes in ants' nests or steep banks. The male occasionally assists in incubation, and two broods may be reared in a season. Small or large colonies are sometimes formed, and in both the Old and New Worlds large flocks seriously damage ripe maize and corn, or oranges and other fruits. The birds are often killed for eating, and their feathers used for ornament; for caging, they are limed, captured with decoys, or taken from the nest.

The headquarters of Parrots are in the Australian Region and the Malay countries, which possess a majority of the genera and peculiar species; next follows the Neotropical Region; the Indian and Ethiopian are comparatively poor; the Palaearctic possesses no existing representative; and the Nearctic but one, _Conurus carolinensis_, which early in this century extended northwards to the Great Lakes, but now only inhabits Florida, Arkansas, and Indian Territory. _Cyanolyseus patagonus_ and _Microsittace ferruginea_ occur at the Straits of Magellan, _Poeocephalus robustus_ at the extreme south of Africa, _Cyanorhamphus erythrotis_ in Macquarie Island; while many forms occupy most limited areas, especially in the West Indies and the Pacific. Of _Coracopsis mascarinus_ {366}of Réunion, _Nestor productus_ of Phillip Island, and _N. norfolcensis_ of Norfolk Island, only a few specimens exist, and those in collections; _Palaeornis exsul_ of Rodriguez and _Conurus pertinax_ of St. Thomas in the West Indies are verging upon extinction. A Macaw seems to have disappeared from Jamaica, and six Parrots from Guadeloupe and Martinique.

The sexes of all the species described below are alike, unless otherwise stated, the young being commonly duller.

Fam. III. PSITTACIDAE.–Sub-fam. 1. _Stringopinae._–_Stringops habroptilus_, the Kakapo or Tarapo of New Zealand, has sap-green upper parts, with yellow middles to the feathers and transverse brown markings; yellower lower surface; and browner cheeks, remiges, and rectrices. The soft plumage, the disc of feathers round the eye, and the nocturnal habits have given this bird the name Owl-Parrot. During the day it usually hides in holes near the ground, emerging towards evening to feed greedily on mosses, bracken, seeds, berries, such as those of _Coriaria sarmentosa_, and even lizards; while the companies make tracks a foot or more wide across the herbage. The Kakapo inhabits alpine districts or open {367}forests; it climbs well and walks swiftly, but has such limited powers of flight that the natives hunt it on foot by torch-light, or with dogs, which are often seriously wounded by the powerful bill. The note is a croak, grunt, or shriek. Two or three eggs, as large as those of a pullet, are deposited in burrows under tree-roots or rocks, without any nest. It makes a tame and playful pet.[222]

Sub-fam. 2. _Psittacinae._–Of this group the nocturnal _Geopsittacus occidentalis_ of South and West Australia, and _Pezoporus formosus_ of the same countries and Tasmania, somewhat resemble _Stringops_ in general coloration. The latter, which has an orange frontal band, rarely resorts to trees, but crouches, skulks, or trusts to its great running powers, flying at most only some hundred yards, with a rapid twisting motion. It haunts sandy plains or marshy districts, laying two or three eggs on a bedding of grass and rushes in long tussocks of herbage.

Our common cage-bird, _Melopsittacus undulatus_, the Australian Grass-Parakeet or Budgerigar, has a yellow head, with three black cheek-spots surmounted by a blue patch; the nape, back, and wing-coverts are yellow with black transverse markings, the remiges brown with green outer webs and yellow margins, the rump and under parts green, the two long median rectrices blue, the lateral tail-feathers green banded with yellow. These graceful and lively little birds are partly terrestrial, often flocking in thousands to feed upon the seeds of grasses, while they sit motionless during the heat among the foliage. The flight is quick and direct; the note shrill, or warbling; the conduct of individuals towards one another amicably quarrelsome. From three to six eggs are deposited in hollow branches, with no nest. The name Grass-Parakeet is shared with _Neophema_ of Southern Australia and Tasmania, distinguished by a blue frontal band sometimes extending around the eyes. _N. petrophila_, the Rock-Parakeet, breeds in holes in steep cliffs near water, _N. pulchella_ also shewing a liking for rocks. _Porphyrocephalus spurius_ of West Australia has a maroon crown and nape, green upper parts, black remiges with blue bases and primary coverts, and blue lower surface with scarlet and yellow vent. The flight is swift, the note clucking.

Of the beautiful Australian genus _Platycercus_, _P. elegans_, also found in Norfolk Island, may serve as an example: it is crimson-red with black on the dorsal feathers; the cheeks, bend of the wing, {368}primary-coverts, outer webs of quills and the tail being blue. The dozen species haunt grassy hills, feed upon seeds, berries, insects and their larvae, run easily, take short flights, rise with outspread tail, and lay from four to seven eggs in holes in trees without a nest. _P. eximius_ is the Roselle Parakeet of dealers.

_Loriculus vernalis_ is green, tinged with yellowish below and with orange on the back; the rump is red; the throat, the inner webs of the wing-quills, and the under surface of the tail are bluish. The female has little blue on the throat. The flight is rapid, but the birds are not shy; they are found in pairs or small flocks, and are said to suck honey from the flowers. They breed as does the last-mentioned species.