153 



black ; feet greyish-black ; ii-ides stra^v-yellow, Female 

 of the same size as the male, but with a shorter beak, 

 broader when seen in proHle, with more arched culmen. 

 Hab.. "'Guatemala to Guiana and Bolivia and the 

 Amazon Valley" (Salvadori.) 



Burmeister (" Syst-ematische Uebersicht," II., p. 156) 

 says: — "This species goes farthest south of all the 

 Araras, and formerly might even be met with in the 

 ■wooded environs of Rio ,de Janeiro, now it has long 

 since deserted the inhabited regions. It delights in the 

 great primeval forests in the neighbourhood of rivers 

 sj> long as they flow through level country, and is 

 unwilling to ascend to the higher mountain-forests. 

 Nevertheless, one finds it at the lower Parahyba and 

 Kio da I'omba, as well as farther to the north in all 

 the dense coastal woods right up to Bahia ; yet it is in 

 evidence even farther south than Rio de Janeiro, at St. 

 Paulo." 



" The loud, quite Crow-like, cry of the flushed bird 

 astonished me. and I soon recogni.'^ed it by its size and 

 brilliant colouring. I cannot deny that the sound has 

 a resenxblance to the name of the bird Arara. but it 

 I'ounded deeper, as a throaty sound which passed into 

 a screech, and I do not doubt that in other ears it would 

 seem exactly Arara. As a rule the indication of animal 

 voices is subject to considerable variations, because 

 different nations recogni.se different sounds from our- 

 selves : whereby the difference of the accounts is ex- 

 plained. Thus, for instance, the Prince zu Wied denies 

 the reisemblance of the note to the name. According 

 to the detailed information given by this attentive tra- 

 veller tli'S bird chiefly .subsists on the fruits of the 

 Sapucaya, (Leci/thix nllaria), the Juvia (BertholUtia 

 cxcelsa), and various mealy palm-berries, such as the 

 Licuri (Cocos capilala) or Aricuri (Cocos carinata). the 

 reddiish-yellow fruit-clusters of which are serviceiible 

 even for hiiriian beings, and must suit these birds admir- 

 ably. One also sees them frequentlv busied with the 

 fruits of the clinrbing plants, among which especially 

 the forms called Spinhia by the Brazilians afford them 

 food. All these plants thrive only in the dense prim:- 

 tive forest, and that is ako the home of the bird ; they 

 do not occur on tlie open C'ampcs, and they scarcely 

 encroach upon the more open forests of the interior far 

 from the larger rivers ; but -where the primeval forest 

 is ever most in evidence the Arara can be exjwcted with 

 certainty. Yet one sees it only in small companies, 

 and more often than with other Parrots, even solitary ; 

 they do not occur in large flocks, like several smaller 

 species." 



The first sjiecimen of this Macaw exhibited at Regent's 

 Park was deposited in 1861 ; altogether, probably about 

 four dozen examples have, at various times:, found a 

 home there. It is a very well-knomr bird, which Russ 

 .«pea'ks of as represented at alm.ost every large exhibi- 

 tion. 



"Military Mac.\w {Aia ini/ilari.i). 



The prevailing tint is a somewhat olivaceous green, 

 ■with the head of a purer green ; on the nape is a slight 

 bluish shade ; the forehead and lines on the lores are 

 vermilion ; on the cheeks are gi'eenish-black lines ; the 

 chin is brown ; the hinder part of the back, the rump, 

 and upper tail-coverts are pale-blue; the primaries and 

 secondai-ies blue, yellowish olivaceous below ; the under 

 wing-coverts giieen. the greater ones .slightlv dusky ; 

 the four central tail-feathers dull red. broadly tipped 

 ■with blue; the two next on each side blue, edged to- 

 wards the base with dull red ; the two outer feathers 

 almost whollv blue ; under-surface of tail olivaceous 



yellow ; the naked skin of the cheeks flesh-coloured ; 

 iris ot eye yellowish-grey ; the beak blackish, and the 

 I'pgs blackish-grey. Female smaller, -with distinctly 

 .shorter bea.k, the culmen more arched. Hab., Mexico 

 to t'entral and South America, occurring from Bogota 

 to Peru and Bolivia. 



Stolzmann (" Taczanowski's Ornothologie de Perou," 

 Vol. III., p. 192) says: "It keeps in companies com- 

 , posed of two, three, or more pairs. The most numeix>us 

 which I have seen was of nine pairs ; they usually fly 

 very high, making themselves heard by a penetrating 

 and strong voice. After they have settled upon a tree 

 they feed in silence, and one is only conscious of the 

 crushing of fruit and the somid of the fall of the re- 

 mains of the husk. Sometimes they o^nly babble quietly, 

 as if they ivere holding a convei'sation together. It is 

 a very cautious bird ; at the slightest cracking of a 

 branch their leader, crying cra-cra-ira , alarms the whole 

 assembly, wliioh dep.ai-ts crying. Their flight is hun-ied. 



" At Concolo, a colony composed of some cottages 

 above the little town of Chciros, I have seen the nesting- 

 plaoe of the Parrakeets. It was a vertical, clayey de- 

 t'livity exc'avated in many burrowe; these holes serve for 

 its eggs. A very numerous colony has successively occu- 

 pied it without intermission. It was in the month of 

 .May. I suppose, however, that it may also nest in 

 holes in trees." 



In his " Two Bird-lovers in Mexico " C. W. Beebe 

 says (pp. 173. 174) : " In the morning we were wakened 

 by the screams of Macaws. When the notes first reached 

 my ear I knew that I had heard theim before, but where 

 I could not think, and not until I rushed out and saw 

 the birds did I connect the sound with the din of a 

 Parrot-house in a zoological park. There the harsh 

 Ecreaims rend' one's ears, but here, between the walls of 

 the mighty gorge, it is an entirely different utterance. 

 From high overhead the guttural tones came softened, 

 and, our eyes following, we see a pair — always a pair — 

 of the great birds, with their long, sweeping tails and 

 quickly-vibrating winge, passing steadily across the sky. 

 While thus silhouetted against the light they seemed 

 black, but when they reached a background of rock or 

 trees their colours flashed out — ^beautiful living greens 

 with lesser tints of brown and golden olive. They were 

 Military Maca^vs. and they always flew thus closely 

 together, morning and evening, from roost to feeding- 

 ground and back." 



As usual, this species generally nests in hollow trees, 

 laying its two eggs on the bare wood. Though rather 

 smaller than its ha'nd.«cime relative, the Red and Blue 

 Macaw, this species has quite as powerful a coreech. 

 In its own counti-y it is said to be very destructive to 

 the crops. 



Attempts have been made to breed this species, and 

 (I believe) with ptartial success, inasmuch as young have 

 been hatched ; but whether any have ever left the nest 

 I cannot say. Doubtless in a very strongly-built and 

 extensive aviarv. furnished with plenty of branjhes and 

 hollow loQs. this or any ether Macaw might be succesis- 

 fully bred, and as these birds are still very expensive 

 it might be worth while for a man who had a big 

 aviary vacant to try the experiment; only I should 

 advise him to have a very stout wire for its enclosure, 

 or the Macaws, with their natural cutting-pliers, would 

 f con be at liberty. When tame the Military Macaw is 

 intelligent, and s>oon learns to speak or imitate the cries 

 of animals. 



The first example exhibited at the London Zoological 

 Oardens in Regent's Park was purchased in 1864, and 

 others have been purchased, presented, or deposited 



