268 CLARK, Lesser Antillean Aft/catvs. l]u^ 



Their voice is loud and piercing, and they always cry when flying. 

 If one imitates their cry, they stop short. They have a grave and 

 dignified demeanor, and so far from being alarmed by many shots 

 fired under a tree where they are perched, they gaze at their com- 

 panions who fall dead to the ground without being disturbed at 

 all, so that one may fire five or six times into the same tree with- 

 out their appearing to be frightened. 



" The natives make use of a strategem to take them alive ; they 

 watch for a chance to find them on the ground, eating the fruit 

 which has fallen from the trees, when they approach quietly under 

 cover of the trees, then all at once run forward, clapping their 

 hands and filling the air with cries capable not only of astounding 

 the birds, but of terrifying the boldest. Then the poor birds, sur- 

 prised and distracted, as if struck with a thunderbolt, lose the use 

 of their wings, and, making a virtue of necessity, throw themselves 

 on their backs and assume the defensive with the weapons nature 

 has given them — their beaks and claws — with which they defend 

 themselves so bravely that not one of the natives dares to put his 

 hand on them. One of the natives brings a big stick which he 

 lays across the belly of the bird, who seizes it with beak and 

 claws ; but while he is occupied in biting it, the native ties him so 

 adroitly to the stick that he can then do with him anything he 

 wishes. 



" The flesh of this bird is very tough, and considered by many 

 unwholesome, and even poisonous. I never had any ill effects 

 from it, although we inhabitants often eat it." 



In a later work (1667) Dutertre gives practically the same ac- 

 count, but he says that the Macaws only eat the manchioneel 

 apples in case of necessity (II, p. 247). He says further (II, p. 

 249), "The male and the female are inseparable companions, and 

 it is rare that one is seen singly. When they wish to breed 

 (which they do once or twice a year) they make a hole with their 

 beaks in the stump of a large tree, and construct a nest with 

 feathers from their own bodies. They lay two eggs, the size of 

 those of a partridge (Perdix dnerea). The others of the parrot 



kind make their nests in the same way, but lay green eggs 



The Macaws are much larger than the large parrots of Guade- 

 loupe or Grenada, and live longer than a man ; but they are 

 almost all subject to a falling sickness." 



