524 



THE BLUE AND YELLOW MACAW. 



BLUE AM> tfELLOW MACAW. ^ra Araraima. 



Waterton writes as follows of 

 the BED AND BLUE MACAW : 



" Superior in size and beauty 

 to any Parrot of South America, 

 the Ara will force you to take 

 your eyes from the rest of ani- 

 mated nature and gaze at him ; 

 his commanding strength, the 

 flaming scarlet of his body, the 

 lovely variety of red, yellow, blue, 

 and green in his wings, the ex- 

 traordinary length of his scarlet 

 and blue tail, seem all to join and 

 demand from him the title of em- 

 peror of all the parrots. He is 

 scarce in Demerara until you 

 reach the confines of the Ma- 

 coushi country; there he is in 

 vast abundance ; he mostly feeds 

 on trees of the palm species. 



When the coucourite trees 

 Lave ripe fruit on them, they 

 are covered with this magnificent 

 Parrot. He is not shy or wary ; 

 you may take your blowpipe and 

 a quiver of poisoned arrows, and 

 kill more than you are able to 

 carry back to your hut. They 

 are very vociferous, and like the 

 common Parrots, rise up in bodies 

 towards sunset and fly two and 

 two to their places of rest. It is 

 a grand sight in ornithology to 

 see thousands of Aras flying ovei 

 your head, low enough to let you 

 have a full view of their flaming 

 mantle. The Indians find the 

 flesh very good, and the feathers 

 serve for ornaments in their head- 

 dresses." 



The Blue and Yellow Macaw 

 generally keeps in pairs, though, 

 like the other species, it will 

 sometimes assemble in flocks of 

 considerable size. When thus 

 congregated the Macaws become 

 /ery conversational, and their 

 united cries are most deafening, 

 and can be heard at a great dis- 

 tance, as any one can understand 

 who has visited the Parrot-house 

 of the Zoological Gardens. In 

 common with the other Macaws, 

 this species is easily tamed, and 

 possesses some powers of imitation, 

 being able to learn and repeat 



