66 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 2 



At Boca de Paya blue-and-yellow macaws passed regularly over 

 our camp, especially in the early morning flight, their coming adver- 

 tised by their raucous calls. Usually they were in pairs, though once 

 I saw 8 in company, divided in two groups of 3 and one of 2, but 

 near together. I assumed that the third individual in this instance was 

 an immature bird still with its parents. The Choco Indians and the 

 Panamanian countrymen considered their flesh a delicacy and shot 

 them to eat, though to me the usual pungent macaw odor, that seemed 

 stronger in this species than in others, was repulsive. 



The long tails have broad webs to the tip when new, but the ends 

 and the wing tips become much abraded in the breeding season from 

 their nesting holes. I saw pairs occasionally at cavities near the tops 

 of tall dead trees. 



According to Schonwetter (Handb. OoL, pt. 9, 1964, p. 516) the 

 white eggs measure 40.6-50.7 X 33.0-37.7 mm. 



ARA AMBIGUA AMBIGUA (Bechstein) : Green Macaw; 

 Guacamayo Verde 



Psittacus ambiguus Bechstein, in Latham, Allg. Uebers. Vog., vol. 4, 1811, p. 65. 

 (Northwestern Colombia.) 



Size large, with body color green. 



Description. — Length 700-770 mm. Adult (sexes alike), forehead, 

 anterior lores, and narrow feather bands on the area, otherwise bare, 

 in front of the eye, red; crown and sides of neck bright green; upper 

 back, scapulars, inner wing coverts, and inner secondaries yellowish 

 green, with a wash of yellowish olive ; greater wing coverts greenish 

 blue; primaries and outer secondaries blue with shafts black and the 

 inner web edged with black ; lower back, rump, and upper tail coverts 

 light blue; central tail feathers red, with black shafts and blue tips, 

 with blue increasing on the outer pairs until the outermost are entirely 

 of this color; narrow lines of feathers on the bare area below eye 

 black ; side of occiput bright green, with hidden dull red on the bases 

 of the feathers; a narrow line of dull black feathers tipped with dull 

 red and green bordering the bare area on base of lower mandible ; 

 under surface of body bright green, with an olive cast; under tail 

 coverts light blue ; green feathers on lower abdomen with concealed 

 red bases ; underside of wing and tail yellow with more or less of an 

 olive cast. 



Immature, somewhat duller colored, with indistinct margins of 

 yellowish green on scapulars and inner secondaries, duller green be- 

 low ; middle tail feathers margined distally with dull yellow. 



