134 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



[Am] militaris Sclater and Salvin, Nom. Av. Neotr., 1873, 111, part. — Sharpe, 



Hand-list, ii, 1900, 13, part. 

 Arara mililaris Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, iii, no. 26 (Psittaci), 1864, 5, part 



(Mexico). 

 Ara amhigua (not Psittacus ambiguus Beclistein) Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 



1867, 183 (Mexico; crit.; diagn.). 

 Ara militaris mexicana Ridgway, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., xxviii. May 27, 1915, 



106 (Manzanillo, Mexico; coll. U. S. Nat. Mus.). 



ARA AMBIGUA (Bechstein). 



BUFFON'S MACAW. 



Similar to A. militaris but decidedly larger, with relatively much 

 larger bill; general color much lighter, the green more yellowish, the 

 the blue of rump and tail-coverts paler and more gi'eenish, and red of 

 tail brighter, more orange-red. 



Adults (sexes al%ke). — Forehead (broadly) and lores bright scarlet- 

 vermilion; crown bright apple green, passing into more bluish green 

 (between emerald and malachite) on hindneck; back, scapulars, 

 proximal secondaries, and lesser and middle wing-coverts bright yel- 

 lowish green, mclinmg to golden olive-green in certain lights; greater 

 coverts and alulae light greenish blue (between turquoise and nile 

 blue), the iiuiermost (proximal) greater coverts suffused with light 

 yellowish green; primary coverts and primaries deeper greenish blue, 

 with black shafts; rump and tail-coverts clear nile blue, some of the 

 feathers margined termmally with light yellowish green (apple green) ; 

 middle pair of rectrices dull orange-red (between orange chrome and 

 Chinese orange), passing, through yellowish green, into greenish tur- 

 quoise blue on distal portion; second pair similar, but blue of distal 

 portion more extended and orange-red of proximal portion darker 

 and confined to outer web (replaced on inner web by olive-greenish 

 tinged with orange-reddish) ; third and fourth pairs similar but with 

 the reddish still more restricted (progressively) , the sixth (outermost) 

 pair with outer web wholly blue; under surface of wings (except 

 smaller coverts) and tail yellow, becoming more olivaceous in certain 

 lights; small feathers on naked suborbital region blackish brown; 

 auricular region, posterior portion of malar region, throat, under 

 parts of body, and lesser under wing-coverts, light yellowish green 

 (more yellowish than apple green), the portion next to bare skin of 

 chin and anterior malar region mixed or suffused with deep grayish 

 brown; bill blackish basally, light horn color terminally; naked skin 

 of head pale carmine-purple; " iris dark yellow, but varies in different 

 individuals;" ^^ legs and feet grayish dusky (in dried skins). 



Young. — Very similar in color to adults, but longer scapulars and 

 innermost secondaries indistinctly margined with lighter, more yellow- 

 ish, green, middle retrices margined distally with pale dull yellowish, 

 and under parts slightly duller, more olivaceous, green, especially 

 anteriorly. 



a C. W. Richmond. 



