VI PSITTACIDAE a7 7 
Its flight is swift but unsteady, with rapid strokes of the wing 
and folded tail; yet it mobs Birds 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 eges, from six to eight 
in number, are laid. Though the entrance, with its overhanging 
eaves, 18 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.' Cyanolyseus patagonus, of 
Argentina and Patagonia, is brownish-olive, with red on the belly, 
yellow on the 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 carolinensis, of Florida, Arkansas, and the Indian Territory, 
is green, with paler lower parts, yellow head and upper neck, orange 
forehead and cheeks. 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. guarouba of North-East Brazil being 
yellow with green remiges, 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. chloroptera, the 
Red-and-blue Macaw, A. macao, which differs in its yellow and 
green wing-coverts, and A. militaris, the Red-and-green Macaw, 
occur from Mexico and Central America to Bolivia; A. ararauna, 
the Blue-and-yellow Macaw, and A. severu, the Green-and-blue 
Macaw only extend from Panama southwards. The naked flesh- 
coloured face is crossed by lines of feathers, except in A. macao. 
The four closely allied Brazilian species of Anodorhynehus and 
Cyanopsittacus, or Hyacinthine 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 
1 Gibson, Zbis, 1880, pp. 3-6. 
