100 PATAGONIAN ARARA. 



congener the Carolina Arara, it is continually utter- 

 ing its piercing screams, as well when parched as upon 

 wing. It is easily tamed, and can be taught to imi- 

 tate the human voice, but more imperfectly than some 

 of its congeners, on which account it is held in slight 

 estimation, and but seldom domesticated by the in- 

 habitants. In Patagonia, it extends nearly as far as 

 the straits of Magellan, a southern latitude much 

 higher than any frequented by this tribe in the 

 northern hemisphere, where the limit of their distri- 

 bution rarely extends beyond the 32d degree. The 

 drawing from which our plate is engraved, was taken 

 by Mr Lear, from a living specimen in the Zoologi- 

 cal Gardens, and though inferior in scale, possesses 

 perhaps as much of life and character as that con- 

 tained in his large and beautiful work, "Illustrations 

 of the Psittacidse." The bill is of a blackish colour, 

 short and thick at the base. The orbits are naked 

 and white, the space between the bill and eyes fea- 

 thered, the head and upper part of the neck are 

 blackish-green, tinged with yellow around the eyes, 

 the lower neck is greenish -grey, succeeded by a pec- 

 toral collar or gorget of greenish- white, the lower 

 part of the breast is deep greenish-grey. The sides 

 and flanks are yellow, upon the thighs tinged with 

 green. The middle of the abdomen is vermilion red. 

 The back and lesser wing coverts are dusky yellow- 

 ish-green, the greater coverts and secondary quills 

 are bluish-green, narrowly margined with yellow. 

 The tail is long and lanceolate, of a dingy yellowish- 



