

47* 



PSITTACID.S. 



PSITTACID.E. 



HI 



Tb Oraat Gram Maccaw (Puliaoa militant, Aue-t), inhabiting the 

 warmer district* of the chain of the And**, where it ia found a< high 

 a* about 3000 fret, in Mexico and Peru ; the Hyacinthine Maccaw 

 (Macrortrciu //yiiciii/AiNiu); the Kcd and Blue Maccaw (If. Aracanya); 

 and the Blue aiid Yellow Maccaw (.If. Araramta), are known to most 

 admirers of this gay race ; though the Hyacinthine Maccaw U rarely 

 seen alive in tlii country, and is not common even in museums. 



Tlie geniu Mattoctrctu has the following characters : Size large. 

 Orbits and sometimes tlie face destitute of feather*. Nostrils concealed. 

 Notch in the upper mandible obsolete ; the under remarkably short, 

 but very deep. (Sw.) 



.V. A ronmno has the bill black, largely and strongly developed. 

 The upper mandible, which not unfrequently measures from the 

 forehead to the tip 3 J inches, is much deflected : the under mandible 

 is short, deep, and very stout Checks white, naked, with three fine 

 narrow line* of black plumelets under the eye*, the irides of which 

 are yellowish. Beneath the under mandible a broad black band 

 extending upwards to the ears behind a great part of the white naked 

 patch. Plumage rich blue above, blending into green on the forehead, 

 crown, tome of the smaller wing-coverts, and rump. Greater quills 

 and Uit nearly violet Wings and Uil, beneath, yellow. The rest of 

 the under parts rich saffron. Legs and feet blackish-gray. Total length 

 about 39 inches, of which the Uil measures some 24 inches. 



It is a native of tropical America, the Brazils, banks of the Maranon, 

 or Amacou Hirer, Guyana, Surinam, 4c. 



Though generally living in pairs, the Blue and Yellow Maccaws 

 sometimes assemble in large flocks, their favourite haunts being swampy 

 woods where a species of palm on whose fruit they principally feed U 

 abundant They By well and often very high, showing a great com- 

 mand of wing, especially before they alight on the top of the lofty 

 tree* which they select for their resting-plsce. The two eggs, which 

 an hud in the hollows of decayed trees, as well as the young, are said 

 to receive the parental care of the male as well as of the female, which 

 have two broods a year generally. 



Ptitlacara. Betwein the Maccaws and Parrakeeta (Palaornii) 

 comes the genus Piiltacara (Vig.). " These birds," says Mr. Vigors, 

 "although their cheeks are covered with feathers, and they are thus 

 brought within the circle of the Parrakeets, have yet the bill of the 

 Maccaws ; and by a greater or less nakedness of the orbits round the 

 eyes they still further atsert their affinity to them. From their oscu- 

 lant situation between the two groups, thus strikingly apparent, the 

 species that exhibit these characters have received the familiar name 

 of Pah-akeet-Maccaws in our language, and of Perruche-Aras among 

 the French ornithologists. Like the true Maccaws, they are exclu- 

 sively natives of the New World." ('Zpol. Journ., vol. ii.) Mr. Vigors 

 adds in a note, that a species nearly allied to both these groups had 

 then lately been brought to this country. 



It has the following characters : Head feathered, space round the 

 eye naked. Bill thick, rather short ; upper mandible compressed at 

 the apex, the lower mandible very thort inclining inwards, deeply 



emarginate. Wings moderate; first and fourth quills equal, third 

 rather longer, second longest; internal web of the first slightly notched 

 near the middle, external webs of the second to the fifth inclusive 

 gradually broader in the middle. Feet rather strong, tarsi short. 

 (Vigors.) 



/'. leptorhyncha. Green; space round the eye white; interocular 

 band and frontal fillet red ; tail cinnamon red. 



The sub-family Palttarnma, as it appears in Mr. Vigors and Dr. 

 Horsfield's ' Description of the Australian Birds in the Collection of 

 the LimiEpan Society ' (' Linns. Trans.,' vol. xv.), consists of the genera 

 Kanodti, Platycenia, Pcxtponu, Palteornu, and Tridioglotnu. 



Palaornit. The Parrakeets forming this group belong to conti- 

 nental India and some of the neighbouring islands in the Indian Ocean 

 and Africa, with the exception of Palueornit Sarrabatuii (Puh/tdit of 

 Wagler), which is a native of Australia. India and its islands must 

 however bo considered as the principal locality of the species, which, 

 according to Wagler' s monograph, amounts to eleven, including 

 Palteorntt liivrnatu*, which he adds to the group with doubt 



These King Parrakeets, as they are generally termed, are justly 

 held in high estimation for the symmetry of their form, the grace and 

 elegance of their movements, the beauty of their colours, their great 

 docility and powers of imitation, and their fond attachment to those 

 with whom they are domesticated and who treat them with kindncs*. 

 They were not less prized, as we have seen, by the ancients; and it 

 becomes a not uninteresting inquiry to endeavour to ascertain what 

 were the species known to them. Some suppose that Palawnit Alex- 

 andri was the only one : but though that species may have been and 

 was probably the first introduced into Europe, we think that it will 

 appear that those who confine the Parrakeets known to the ancieuU to 

 that bird have taken too narrow a view of the subject. 



tutlttmtt Irptufymka. 



Ring rrrVect (Ffltfo.-MU Alcxar.dn). 



This genua has the following characters : Bill rather thick ; the 

 upper mandible dilated, the culmen round, the lower mandible broad, 

 short, and emarginate. Wings moderate ; three lo*t quills (extiinis) 

 nearly equal, longest; external webs of the second, third, and fourth 

 gradually broader in the middle. Tail graduated ; the two middle 

 very slender feathers much exceeding the rest in length. Feet with 

 short and weak tarsi ; the claws moderate, rather slender, and falcate. 

 I tody slender and near. (Vig.) 



Mr. Vigors divides the genus into the following sections : 



* Lower mandible short. 



P. Akrandri, P. t<irqnatu, P.frilnri/u!t. P. liitwrjualiil, P. xnntlic- 

 omut, P. Afalaccemif, P. crylhrocrjilialut, P. Bcnyaleniii, P. Pvndice- 

 lirtniu, P. Jiarrabandi. 



