THE STRAIGHT-BILLED PARROTS (Psittaci orthognathi).[246]
In this second section of the Parrots only one family is known, all the members of which are easily recognisable by their straightened bills, the lower mandible being gently compressed, and not bulged out, with a nearly straight tip, the cutting edges with scarcely any indentation. With the exception of the Lorikeets (Loriculus), members of which are found in India and the Indo-Malayan region, the whole family is Australian, being confined to that continent and the adjacent Molucca Islands, New Zealand, and the islands of Polynesia.
LORIKEET.
THE BRUSH-TONGUED PARROTS.[247]
The Brush-tongued Lorikeets are all birds of very beautiful colouring, and are mostly found in Australia, the Moluccas, some few species extending through the Oceanic Islands. All seem to be very similar in their habits, an account of which is given by Mr. Gould. He says:—“This arboreal group of honey-eating Lorikeets, if not so numerous in species as the seed-feeding Parrakeets, is individually as abundant, and more universally dispersed, being found in every part of Australia yet visited. In their structure, habits, food, and mode of nidification, no two groups of the same family can be more widely different than these forms: the pencilled tongue, the diminutive stomach, thick skin, tough flesh, and fœtid odour of the Trichoglossi presenting a decided contrast to the simple tongue, capacious crop and stomach, thin skin, delicate flesh, and freedom from odour of the Platycerci; besides which, the Trichoglossi possess a strong os furcatorium, which bone is wanting in the Platycerci. Hence, while the Trichoglossi are powerful, swift, and arrow-like in their flight, the Platycerci are feeble, pass through the air in a succession of undulations near the ground, and never fly to any great distance. The mode in which the two groups approach, alight upon, and quit the trees is also remarkably different—the Trichoglossi dashing among and alighting upon the branches simultaneously and with the utmost rapidity, and quitting them in like manner, leaving the deafening sound of their thousand voices echoing through the woods; while the Platycerci rise to the branch after their undulating flight, and leave them again in a quiet manner, no sound being heard but their inward piping note. The eggs of the Trichoglossi are from two to four in number; those of the others are more numerous.”
THE NESTORS (Nestor).
These Parrots, which are only found in New Zealand, are generally placed with the other Brush-tongued Parrots. “In all Parrots the fleshy tongue ends anteriorly in a dilated portion, supported by a narrower neck. This tip is much like the end of a human finger, as mentioned by most observers; and its function is similar also, for it is employed by the bird as a third prehensile organ in connection with the upper and lower beak, any solid substance being held by the tongue and upper beak, while the mandible is freed to give another bite. Continuing the simile of the finger, the tip is directed forwards with the nail-like portion downwards, the part corresponding to the free edge of the nail appearing along the lower margin of the anterior rounded surface.[248] In the Trichoglossi, this ‘nail,’ or horny plate, is stated to be present; but on the superior surface of the tongue, between the lateral edges of the unguis, or nail, there is an arrangement of retroverted papillæ, forming a spinous covering, and their mechanism is such that when the tongue is protruded beyond the mouth to grasp any object, the papillæ stand upright, or are even directed somewhat forward. In Nestor,” continues Professor Garrod, “there are no papillæ of this description; but the tongue is here, as Dr. Buller says, ‘soft, rounded on the edges, with a broad central groove,’ and it is as smooth as in other Parrots. Therefore, the Kaka Parrot cannot in this point be said to approach the Trichoglossini (badly so called). The peculiarity of the tongue of Nestor consists in the fact that the interior edge of the unguis, or nail, always free (though for a very short distance) and jagged in the other birds of the class, is here prolonged forwards beyond the tips of the tongue for about one-tenth of an inch, as a delicate fringe of hairs with a crescentic contour. In the living bird the mouth is moist, as in the Lories, and not, as in the Cockatoos and others, dry and scaly.”
