THE GREEN MACAW. IS? 



Food Mode of climbing. 



also jealous of the company of other parrots : and 

 if one be lodged in the same room, seems to enjoy 

 no comfort. 



It eats almost every article of human food. It 

 is particularly fond of bread, beef, fried fish, 

 pastry, and sugar. It cracks nuts with its bill, 

 and picks them dexterously with its claws. It 

 does not chew the soft fruits ; but sucks them, 

 by pressing its tongue against the upper mandi- 

 ble : and the harder sorts of food, such as bread 

 and pastry, it bruises or chews, by pressing the 

 tip of the lower mandible upon the most hollow 

 part of the upper. 



The green macaw is a native of Jamaica, Gui- 

 ana, and the Brasils : like all the other parrots, 

 it uses its claws with great dexterity; it bends 

 forward the hinder toe to lay hold of the fruits 

 and other things which are given it, and to carry 

 them to its bill. The parrots, therefore, employ 

 their toes, nearly in the manner as the squirrels 

 and monkeys do their fore-paws ; they also cling 

 and hang by them. There is another habit com- 

 mon to the parrots: they never climb nor creep 

 without fastening by the bill; with this they be- 

 gin, and they use their feet only as secondary in- 

 struments of motion. 



These gregarious birds breed in the hollows of 



trees like the owls, seldom forming any nest, and 



laying two or three eggs each time. It is said 



that the male and female sit alternately . Alex- 



VOL. in. NO. xvm. s. 



