The royal natural history (1893) (14761811216)
Summary
Identifier: royalnaturalhist47lyde (find matches)
Title: The royal natural history
Year: 1893 (1890s)
Authors: Lydekker, Richard, 1849-1915 Sclater, Philip Lutley, 1829-1913 Frostick, W. B., former owner. DSI Brooks, W. T., former owner. DSI
Subjects: Zoology Natural history
Publisher: London and New York : Frederick Warne & Co.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries
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rds, suspended by their feet from a bough. These parrots, which are about thesame size as love-birds, comprise twenty species, ranging from India and thePhilippine Islands tlirough the Malayan region as far east as Duke of YorkIsland. They differ from all the other members of the subfamily in the thinnessof the beak, in which the length exceeds the depth ; the upper mandible beinglong and but little curved, while the profile of the lower one slopes upwards withvery little convexity. In all of them the under surface of the remiges andtail-feathers is of a bright verditer blue. They are brilliantly coloured, withgreen as the predominant tint; and Dr. Guillemard describes a species from the A GROUP OF HANGING PARROTS. Hanging Parrots. HANGING PARROTS. 131 Sulu Islands (Loriciiliis boyiajmrtei) as looking like a little glowing ball ofvivid crimson, yellow, and green. The blue-crowned species (L. galgulus), herefigured, is an inhabitant of the Malay Peninsula and Islands, and measures just
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BLUE-CROWNED HANGING PARROTS ASLEEP (f Il.at. size). over 5 inches in total length. In the male the general colour is green, witli adeep blue spot on the top of the liead, another of yellow on the interscapularregion, a broad band of yellow across the lower part of the back, the rump andupper tail-coverts scarlet, and a patch of the same colour on the throat. Thefemale is duller. As might be inferred from the conformation of their beaks, all the hanmnprparrots are flower-suckers, subsisting largely on honey, although they also eatflower-buds and young shoots. The Indian species (L. vernalis) is usually foundin open spaces in the forests, where it associates in small flocks. When feeding, itkeeps up a continual chirping cry; and it is said, like the fruit-bats, to be at timestaken in a stupefied condition, Ijnng beneath the pots suspended to catch palm-juice. They appear to pass a large portion of their time in sleep; but when awakeexhibit marvellous activity in climbing. From the natu