7A.8 Clark, The Greater Ant Mean Macaws. \_o^x 



On Cuba this bird survived until very recent years, its last 

 stronghold being the extensive swamps in the southern part of 

 the island. 



We find in Brisson (Orn. IV, p. 183, 1760, under "L'Ara 

 Rouge " ) : " Macaws were formerly very common in Santo Do- 

 mingo. I see from a letter of M. le Chevalier Deshayes that 

 since the French settlements have been extended to the tops 

 of the mountains, these birds have become less common." He 

 quotes M. de le Borde, Me'de'cin du Roi at Cayenne : " In all these 

 islands (Antilles) the Macaws have become very rare, because the 

 inhabitants destroy them for food. They retire into the less fre- 

 quented districts, and do not come near the cultivated areas." 



Brisson's is the only evidence I can find of any Macaws having 

 lived in the island of Haiti ; but the statement appears to be 

 authoritative, and he speaks of the bird even at that time (1760) 

 as rare. 



I therefore propose the following as probably the true original 

 status for the genus Ara in the West Indies. 



Ara tricolor (Bechst.). 



Cuban Macaw. 



Habitat. Jamaica 1 (extinct); Cuba, including Isle of Pines 

 (recently extinct) ; Haiti l (extinct). 



Ara guadeloupensis Clark} 



Lesser Antillean Macaw. 



Habitat. Guadeloupe (extinct); ? Dominica Y (extinct); Marti- 

 nique 1 (extinct). 



1 Possibly a closely related species or subspecies. 



2 Auk, XXII, p. 272, July, 1905. 



