896 



PARROT. 



has the top of the head' and the lower parts of the 

 cheeks red, tho hind neck yellow, the coverts of the 

 wings brownish red, and the quills blue. The tail- 

 feathers are bright crimson, bordered with blue and 

 tipped with the same, except the t\vo middle ones, 

 which are bright blue and tipped with crimson. The 

 naked skin on the cheeks is marked with small lines 

 of reddish feathers, and the under part is clouded with 

 the same. This species is about twenty inches in 

 length, and occurs in various parts of tropical Ame- 

 rica, but its manners are little known. 



Illiger's Maccaw (M. Il/igeri),is a Brazilian species, 

 measuring about eighteen inches in length, and very 

 different from any of the rest in the markings of its 

 plumage. The forehead is orange-red, and the re- 

 mainder of the head and the neck greenish blue ; the 

 larger quills and the tips of the tail-feathers are bright 

 blue ; the remaining part of the tail-feathers are 

 purplish red on the upper part, and yellowish on the 

 under: the general plumage is green, and the bill and 

 feet are blackish. 



There are many other species of maccaws to be 

 met with in collections ; and probably there may exist 

 in the forests of central America many species which 

 have not been hitherto observed. There is, however, 

 so much similarity among all the maccaws, excepting 

 in size and colour, that when the manners of one are 

 known, a tolerable index is obtained to the manners of 

 the whole. In the country which they inhabit, they 

 are exceedingly numerous and highly characteristic ; 

 and as they are very voracious, and feed almost ex- 

 clusively upon fruits of some kind or other, their 

 numbers are sufficient evidence of the vast abundance 

 in which wild fruits of some kind or other are found 

 in those forests at every season of the year. They do 

 not range so far in latitude as some of the lighter 

 species with tails somewhat differently formed, to 

 which we shall afterwards have occasion to allude ; 

 but still they range from the upper part of the valley 

 of La Plata to Mexico, and from the eastern extre- 

 mities of Brazil to the slopes of the Andes. The 

 centre of their territory may be regarded as being the 

 river Amazon, the line of which lies near the Equa- 

 tor, and whose valley slopes so gradually toward the 

 sea, that the effect of the trade winds, and of the air 

 which those winds put in motion, is felt almost to the 

 base of the mountains, or at least to that mighty 

 forest which lies immediately to the east of them, and 

 probably contains a greater abundance and luxuriance 

 of wild fruit-trees than any other forest on the surface 

 of the globe. The great rivers which empty their 

 waters into the Amazon, the chief of which come 

 from the south, contain in their valleys immense 

 forests of a similar character ; so that no place could 

 be mentioned where the food of birds constructed 

 like the maccaws exists in such plenty. The birds 

 are well fitted for the part which is thus assigned 

 them. They are by much the largest of the parrot 

 family, and they are more completely armed at all 

 points than any of the rest. It is true they are not 

 good walkers ; but with them walking is not neces- 

 sary. Their food is found on the trees; and when it 

 falls to the ground, they abandon it to the small 

 mammalia which gather their food beneath the shade of 

 the trees. Their wings are, in all the species, power- 

 ful instruments, and firmly and neatly formed for 

 flight. They are not proportionally so long as the 

 wings of those birds which have to take extended 

 migrations, or to chase their food on the wing ; but 



they are what one would call cleaver wings, equall 

 fitted for forward flight, for turning, and for ascent an 

 descent. In those movements, especially the up an 

 down ones, the powerful tail is of great use to then 

 Their feet are also of first-rate character as climbin 

 feet ; and their bills are of stronger make and firrm 

 consistency than those of any others of the racv 

 Taking them altogether in their adaptations to wil 

 nature, they unquestionably stand foremost in tli 

 parrot family ; though many of the others are far mot 

 docile and engaging in their manners, and on UK 

 account better fitted for being kept as ornaments. : 

 is in wild nature, however, that we must look for tli 

 proper characteristics of every bird or other animal 

 and perhaps there is not in the whole living creatio 

 a finer specimen of adaptation than we meet with i 

 these bird?, nor is there a country which presents s 

 extensive and inviting a field to the student of N; 

 ture as that which the maccaws inhabit, and trial 

 gay with their colours, and keep in incessant din wit 

 the loudness and harshness of their cries. 



MACCAW PARAKEETS. There is some little unce 

 tainty in the application of the word parakeet. Itsgi 

 neral signification may be considered as a diminutive < 

 the word parrot, and the parakeet generally has the ta 

 longer than the parrot, and pointed, or wedge-shupe< 

 or with the middle feathers very much produced. Tl: 

 birds brought together under this name are of a mixe 

 character, and do not, like the maccaws, form a distim 

 section, occupying a particular locality. In one ( 

 other of their species they are found both in tl 

 eastern and western continent ; though those < 

 the west may perhaps be considered as resembliti 

 the maccaws much more than those of the east cl 

 Like the maccaws, the parakeets are found only : 

 the most fertile places of the world, though they ha\ 

 a much greater range than the maccaws. In Am 

 rica, for example, there is one at least which rang* 

 as far to the north as the southern part of the Unite 

 States; while in South America there are othe 

 which reach as far southward as the Strait of Mage 

 Ian. In the eastern continent we do not find the 

 so far to the north ; but they extend to the southei 

 extremity of the land, and are chiefly dispersed ov< 

 the islands. Even in this hemisphere, however, the 

 do not inhabit such high latitudes as in America ; bi 

 they do so simply because there are no such high lal 

 tudes on land for them to inhabit. 



None of these birds have the cheeks so complete: 

 bare of feathers as the maccaws ; but the Am 

 rican ones have them more naked than those of tl 

 east ; and they farther approach the maccaws in ch 

 racter by being less susceptible of education than tl 

 eastern parakeets, or parakeets properly so calle< 

 We shall mention a few of the species without muc 

 reference to the subordinate sections into which it h; 

 been attempted to divide them; because lho-;e se 

 tions are by no means clear or satisfactory. 



Psittacara is the name usually given to this gem 

 or sub-division, and it is nothing more than a con 

 pound of the generic names of parrot and maccaw. 



Noble Parrot Maccaw (P. nobi/is), is an America 

 species, and the one which resembles the maccaw 

 most nearly in its plumage. It is, however, small* 

 than the greater part of the maccaws, and it is a bir 

 which, taken altogether, has a feebler and softer ai 

 The feathers are not nearly so firm in their texture 

 and on the under part they have the appearance < 

 down and not of scales ; the upper mandible too 



