In presenting to our readers a volume containing the natural history of the Parrots, or family Psitta-cidae, we have to direct their attention to an assemblage of birds, not less remarkable for the peculiarity of their form, the gay, varied, and in many instances, splendid plumage in which they are attired, than for the intelligence and docility so many evince in a state of captivity or domestication, and the peculiar facility possessed by several species of imitating the intonations of the human voice, and learning by rote words, and even sentences, which they remember and repeat with clearness and precision; a faculty, it may be remarked, confined to these birds, and to some few of the Sturnidae and Corvidae members of the Conirostral Tribe, - another primary division of the Typical Order Insessores.

According to the natural system, or that founded upon the affinities which connect the various members of the feathered race, and which has been so ably illustrated and confirmed by the writings of Vigors, Swainson, and other eminent ornithologists of our own country, the Psittacidae, or family of the Parrots, belong to the order Insessores, and to that primary division which has been named Scansores, in accordance with the climbing and prehensile powers of its typical members. In this Tribe or Division, it forms one of the five circular groups or families into which it primarily resolves itself, the other four being represented by the Picidae, or Woodpeckers; the Ramphastidae, or Toucans; the Cu-culidae, or Cuckoos; and the Certhiadae, or Creepers. In its own tribe, it constitutes one of the typical, or, according to Mr Swainson's views, the sub-typical group, as it possesses powers of grasping and climbing superior to those of three of the above or Aberrant Groups, and inferior in some respects only to those of the eminently typical Picidae. To any objection that the station thus assigned to this remarkable family is at present rather assumed than borne out by facts, or proved by direct affinity, it may be observed, that although its connexion with the other groups of the tribe is not of so close or direct a nature as might be wished for, in consequence of some of the links necessary to complete the chain of affinity being deficient or unknown; still its general agreements in form and habits are sufficiently prominent to shew that its relationship to the other scansorial groups is of a degree much nearer than what it bears to any other tribe; and farther, that its apparent isolation, or want of a still closer connexion with the birds among which it is placed, in all probability arises, merely from the circumstance that the species necessary to fill up this chasm or deficiency of connecting forms, though existing, remain yet to be discovered either in it or the conterminous families of the tribe. Previous to the enlightened and philosophic views of recent naturalists respecting systematic arrangement, and the discovery that all natural groups, of whatever value or extent they may be, arrange themselves in a circular form, or shew a disposition to return into themselves, the parrots, under the Linnaean and other artificial systems, were considered as forming a single isolated genus, under the title of Psittacus, the various modifications of form they exhibited being only considered in the light of specific characters, or at most used for arbitrary sectional division. A comparison, however, of the parrots with other extensive groups, and a due consideration of the great diversity of form, as well as of habits and manners, observed to prevail among them, plainly shews that they are entitled to a rank much higher or more comprehensive than that of Genus, which, according to the now generally received acceptation of the term, is used to designate one of the lowest assemblages of individuals or species. In consequence, the Linnaean genus, Psittacus, has taken a higher rank in the natural system, and has been placed upon an equality with groups of a similar value, under the denomination of Family, subordinate to which are other less comprehensive circles or assemblages of species, the next in extent being that of Sub-family. Of groups of the latter denomination, the five following have been indicated by Mr Swainson, whose views in this primary division of the family we are inclined to prefer to that formerly proposed by Mr Vigors, in the second volume of the Zoological Journal, as being more in accordance with the natural affinities, structure, and economy of the species; and though a stricter examination and analysis is still required to ascertain the precise situation of species whose history is but little known, we have sufficient to mark the properties and peculiarities which distinguish these primary groups.

The first is that of Macrocercina, and is composed of the splendidly attired Maccaws, all of which are confined to America, as well as the nearly allied forms now distinguished by the generic titles of Arara, Aratinga, and Psittacara. In this division also we place a group of Birds belonging to the ancient Continent, viz. the genus Palaeornis, Vigors. Instead of considering it, as he does, the type of a subfamily, this division constitutes one of the normal, or, according to Mr Swainson, the subtypical group of the family, and is analogous to the denti rostral tribe of the Insessores, and consequently, in its own circle, is the representative of the Raptorial Order.

The second sub-family is that of Psitticina, represented by the short and even-tailed species usually called par excellence Parrots; they are found distributed throughout all the divisions of the globe within the tropics. This is the typical group of the Psittacidae, and is analogous to the conirostral tribe of the Insessores.

The third is called Plyctolophina, or Cockatoo Division, containing the birds familiarly known by that name, as well as the Black, and other nearly allied species. They are natives of India, its islands, and Australia. These represent the Scansores, and consequently the Rasorial Order, in their own family.