154 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



fdnce that time, but it has not b«e:i secured in any- 

 thing like such numbers as the last three species. Russ 

 says'of it : " Fairly frequent in zoological gardens ; rare 

 with aviculturist*." 



Severe M.A.c.iw {Ara set-era). 



Qireen ; primary coverte and fligh-te blue, the latter 

 edged with black at the tips, the secondaries with green 

 edges to the outer webs ; innermost secondaries entirely 

 green : tail-feathers above red'dish-brown, edged with 

 green towards base and tipped with blue ; head washed 

 with blue ; forehead, margin of cheeks, and ehin chest- 

 nut-birown ; feathered lines on cheeks blacik ; naked skin 

 on sides of head whitish flesh-colour ; edge of wing and 

 outer lesser wing-covei-ts below red. the rest green ; 

 greater under-coverts dull-olive ; flights and tail below 

 deep golden-red ; beak and feet black ; irides yellow. 

 Female probaWy with ehorter beak and more arched 

 culmen. Haib., "Brazil, the -Amazon's Valley to 

 Boli\'ia, Guiana, Colomibia, and Panama." (Salvadori.l 



According to Biirmeister (" Systematische Ueber- 

 sicht," Vol. II., p. 161) : — Prince zu Wied saye that 

 •' it lives in pairs during the breeding season, otherwise 

 in company, subsists especially on the fruit of the 

 Jandiroba (FeuilUa cordifolia) of the Jikitiba, anl 



Illic.k.r s .Maiaw. 

 (Photo(jraph from life. 



another with milky juice, which the prince did not i&oog- 

 nise. Their flocks are very injurious to the maize 

 plants. When seeking food in the tops of the trees, 

 they are, like many species, talkative ; utter all kinds 

 of wonderful sounds, such as snarling, i:houting, whis- 

 pering, and they fly thence with screeching cries as soon 

 as one ai>proaches them. Their flight is strikingly 

 rapid." The London Zoological Society acquired two 

 ispecimens of this bird in 1884. one 'by purchase, the 

 other on deposit. Russ says that it occurs " in Zoo- 

 logical Gardens and at all' exhibitions, rarely in the 

 hands of an aviculturist ; little admired. Price 15 to 

 20 marks for a specimen." From the above it would 

 appear that it is only exhibited by dealeiis. 



Illiger's M.4CAW (Ara maracana). 

 The prevailing colour of this hird is green ; the rump, 

 upper tail-coverts, and under wing-coverts olivaceous ; 

 forehead, rose-red ; remainder of head and nape, 

 greenish blue, the crown deeper in tint ; a red patch 

 on the lower back and another on the middle of the 

 abdomen; front margin of wing bluish; wing, except- 

 ing the lesser and median coverts, chiefly blue ; tail 

 blue, the base washed with reddish-brown ; under sur- 

 face of flights and tail yellowish olive, dusky towards 

 the tips ; beak horn-black : feet brownish or ochreous 

 flesh ; naked cheeks yellowish flesh* ; iris, chestnut. 

 Female smaller, the rose-red on the forehead more 

 restricted, the beak slightly shorter. In the young the 

 restriction of the rose red on the forehead is greater, 

 the upper parte are spotted with greyish-brown, and 

 the red patches on back and a-bdomen are yellower. 

 Hab., Brazil and Paraguay. 



Burmeister savs of this Macaw : " I obtained this 

 Parrot at New Freiburg, but onlv once ; it is no friend 

 to mountain forests, but lives rather in the lower plains 

 near the mouths of streams: it is, for instance, found 

 abundantly on the Parahyba .between Cape Fno and 

 the mouth of the river." . 



Fiom his further observation— " that at agrees with 

 the • Severe Macaw ' in its manner of life "—it li 

 e\ ident that during the breeding season it is seen only 

 m pairs, but at other times in companies, that it sub- 

 sists upon fruit.s of various kinds and 

 maize, that when feeding in the tree- 

 tops it is extremely noisy, and its 

 flight is astoundingly rapid. 



An interesting account of this 

 species in captivitv is given by Mr. 

 0. E. Creeswell in Vol. IV. of The 

 ivirultural Magazine, First Series, pp. 

 65-67. 



Illiger's Macaw first arrived at the 

 Regent's Park Gardens in 1861, after 

 which there was an interval of ten 

 vears, and then two examples were 

 added ; others have been purchased or 

 deposited since that time. 



Russ says : "A pair belonging to 

 Dr. Frenzel bred one young one, 

 which, however, only survived a few 

 days. The pair were very amorous ; 

 little destructive to woodwork ; rarely 

 screamed ; on the conti-arj, they 

 uttered not unpleasant sounding 

 t;rnnts, and the male also a little song ; 

 never fly in the aviary, climb actively. 

 Thev first went to nest in June, 

 1880. Clntch two eggs; the femal© 



^ Burmeister says the cheeks are reddish- 

 yellow ; the iris, brown internally, orange exter- 

 nally. 



