FAMILY PSITTACIDÆ.—THE PARROTS
CHAR. Bill greatly hooked; the maxilla movable and with a cere at the base. Nostrils in the base of the bill. Feet scansorial, covered with granulated scales.
The above diagnosis characterizes briefly a family of the Zygodactyli having representatives throughout the greater part of the world, except Europe, and embracing about three hundred and fifty species, according to the late enumeration of Finsch,[136] of which one hundred and forty-two, or nearly one half, are American (seventy Brazilian alone). The subfamilies are as follows:—
I. Stringopinæ. Appearance owl-like; face somewhat veiled or with a facial disk, as in the Owls.
II. Plyctolophinæ. Head with an erectile crest, of variable shape.
III. Sittacinæ. Head plain. Tail long, or lengthened, wedge-shaped or graduated.
IV. Psittacinæ. Head plain. Tail short or moderate, straight or rounded.
V. Trichoglossinæ. Tip of tongue papillose. Bill compressed; tip of maxilla internally smooth, not crenate; gonys obliquely ascending.
Of these, Nos. III and IV alone are represented in the New World, and only the Sittacinæ occur in the United States, with one species.
[136] Die Papageien. Monographisch bearbeitet von Otto Finsch. 2 vols. Leiden, 1867, 1868.