Page:The Common Birds of Bombay.djvu/65

 CHAPTER VIII.

THE PARROTS.

second tribe of the perching birds is the

Scansores or Climbers, which comp rise the Parrots, Woodpeckers, and Cuckoos. In all these the outer toe of each foot is turned back, so that two toes point forwards and two backwards. This arrangement gives the foot a peculiarly firm grasp, and leads to a difference in gait which every one has noticed who ever kept a Parrot. The Parrot does not sit upright and hop from perch to perch, as a canary docs; it clambers about the