THE AMERICAN SHARP-TAILED PARROTS 



1877 



iv^t are blackish. The total length of this fine bird is about thirty-four inches, of 

 which twenty and one-half are taken up by the tail. The hyacinthine macaw is a 

 somewhat rare species, and although inhabiting the dense tropical forests affected by 

 the other macaws, it is said by Azara to differ markedly in regard to its breeding 

 habits. In place of building in some hollow tree, it is stated to scoop out a burrow 

 on the bank of a river, where it lays a pair of eggs; two broods being reared in a 



HYACINTHINE MACAW. 



(One-fifth natural size.) 



season. These birds the ararauna of the natives fly, according to Bates, in 

 pairs, and feed on palm nuts, which, although so hard as to be difficult to break with 

 a heavy hammer, are crushed to pulp by their beaks. The skulls of the hyacinthine 

 macaw and its congeners differ from those of ordinary macaws in the incompleteness 

 of the bony ring round the eye. The same feature is probably also characteristic of 



