PSITTACIDAE 37 I 



Its flight is swift but unsteady, witli rapid strokes of the wing 

 and folded tail ; yet it mobs Birtls of prey, while its noisy chatter 

 disturbs the other woodland species. A nest of thorny twigs, 

 used for shelter throughout the year, is usually woven round the 

 end of some branch, and has a vestibule and an inner chamber, 

 which are repaired before the thin-shelled eggs, from six to eight 

 in number, are laid. Though the entrance, with its overhanging 

 eaves, is in the side or beneath. Opossums and Ducks occasionally 

 take possession. A tree may contain several of these dwellings, 

 which often jointly form a mass sufficient to fill a cart, though 

 not communicating with one another.^ Cyanolyscus jMtagonus, of 

 Argentina and Patagonia, is brownish-olive, with red on the belly, 

 yellow on tlie rump and flanks, blue on the primaries, green on 

 the secondaries, and a whitish gorget. The flight is strong though 

 wavering ; the cry loud, short, but pleasing ; the food consists of 

 shoots, buds, and seeds ; the breeding places are holes in banks. 

 Conurus carol inensis, of Florida, Arkansas, and the Indian Territory, 

 is green, with paler lower parts, yellow head and upper neck, orange 

 forehead and clieeks. It frequents wooded creeks or swamps, 

 feeding on cypress-seeds, beech-mast, and so forth, and breeding 

 in company in holes in trees without any nest. Nearly thirty 

 species of the genus range from Mexico and the "West Indies to 

 Bolivia and Argentina, C. guarouha of North-East Brazil being 

 yellow witli green remio-es, C. solstitialis of Guiana and Brazil 

 mainly reddish-yellow with blue and green wings and tail. 



Of the fifteen or more large members of Ara, A. ckloroptera, the 

 Eed-and-blue Macaw", A. macao, which differs in its yellow and 

 green wing-coverts, and A. militaris, the Eed-and-green Macaw, 

 occur from Mexico and Central America to Bolivia ; A. ararauna, 

 the Blue-and-yellow Macaw, and A. severa, the Green-and-blue 

 Macaw only extend from Panama southwards. The naked flesh- 

 coloured face is crossed by lines of feathers, except in A. inacao. 

 The four closely allied Brazilian species of Anodorhynchus and 

 Cyanopsittamis, or Hyacintliine Macaws, are almost uniform blue. 

 The flight of these gorgeous birds is powerful, their note harsh and 

 screaming, while they crush and eat hard nuts of various kinds. 



Nasiterna pygmaea, one of some nine Pigmy Parrots, is green, 

 with dusky markings on the upper surface, yellowish crown, 

 reddish forehead and middle of the lower parts ; the two median 

 ' Gibson, lUs, 1880, pp. 3-6. 



