110 



BLUE AND YELLOW MACCAW. 



Macrocercus ararauna. AUCTORUM. 

 PLATE VI. 



Psittacus maximus cyano-virens, Aldrov. Will. Am bleu 

 et jaune, Buff. PI. EnL 36. L'Ara-rauna, Le Vaillant^ 

 i. t. 3. Psittacus ararauna, Shawls ZooL v. viii. p. 391. 

 pi. 54. 



THIS beautiful species is rather inferior in size to 

 the great Scarlet Maccaw, but being less common than 

 that bird, and possessing all the typical characters 

 of the group, we have thought that an accurate fi- 

 gure of the rarer bird would be more acceptable to 

 our readers, than one of a kind better known, al- 

 though the plumage of the latter may boast of greater 

 richness and brilliancy of colour. In length, it mea- 

 sures about 39 inches, the tail alone being about 24. 

 The bill is entirely black, very large and strong. 

 The upper mandible, measuring from the forehead 

 to the tip, three inches and a quarter : it is greatly 

 deflected, and bends immediately from the base ; the 

 under mandible is short and massive, rapidly ascend- 

 ing, and describing when closed, a right angle with 

 the upper. The cheeks are white, and nearly naked, 

 with three fine narrow striae of small black plumes 



