Chap. II. MARACANA PARROT. 103 



poor fellows seemed to fare very badly. Captain An- 

 tonio treated all his Indians like slaves ; paying them 

 no wages and stinting them to scanty rations of salt fish 

 and farinha. There was an air of poverty and misery 

 over the whole establishment, which produced a very- 

 disagreeable impression : these are certainly not the 

 people to develope the resources of a fine country like 

 this. 



On recrossing the river to Aveyros in the evening, a 

 pretty little parrot fell from a great height headlong into 

 the water near the boat ; having dropped from a flock 

 which seemed to be fighting- in the air. One of the In- 

 dians secured it for me, and I was surprised to find the 

 bird uninjured. There had probably been a quarrel 

 about mates, resulting in our little stranger being tem- 

 porarily stunned by a blow on the head from the beak 

 of a jealous comrade. The species was the Conurus 

 guianensis, called by the natives Maracana ; the plumage 

 green, with a patch of scarlet under the wings. I 

 wished to keep the bird alive and tame it, but all our 

 efforts to reconcile it to captivity were vain ; it refused 

 food, bit every one who went near it, and damaged its 

 plumage in its exertions to free itself. My friends in 

 Aveyros said that this kind of parrot never became do- 

 mesticated. After trying nearly a week I was recom- 

 mended to lend the intractable creature to an old 

 Indian woman, living in the village, who was said to 

 be a skilful bird-tamer. In two days she. brought it 

 back almost as tame as the familiar love-birds of our 

 aviaries. I kept my little pet for upwards of two 

 years ; it learned to talk pretty well, and was con- 



