90 



THE MACAWS. 



perceptible ; and this is often performed when the bird is not eating^ 

 whence some persons have supposed it to ruminate. In such cases, 

 however, the bird may be only whetting the edge of this mandible, witb 

 which it cuts and bites its aliment. 



THE MACAWS. 



Many naturalists imagine, and with some reason, that the Psittacidao 

 ought to be formed into 

 an order by them- 

 selves. In this family 

 the construction of the 

 bill is very remarkable. 

 As the curved tip of 

 the bill would prevent 

 the bird from opening 

 it wide enough to ad- 

 mit its food, the upper 

 mandible is united to 

 the skull by a kind of 

 hinge joint, of equal 

 strength and flexibility. 

 When climbing among 

 the branches of trees, 

 or about their cages, 

 the Parrots invariably 

 make great use of their 

 hooked bills in assist- 

 ing themselves both in 

 ascending, and descend- 

 ing. The crossbills have been observed to climb much in the same way. 



The Parrots are said to be very long lived, some have certainly been 

 known to live upwards of eighty years in captivity, and may be 

 imagined to exceed that period in a wild state. 



The Macaws are natives of South America. The blue and yellow 

 Macaw inhabits Brazil, Guiana and Surinam, living principally on the 

 banks of rivers. Of one of the Macaws, the Carolina Parrot, or Parra- 

 keet as Wilson calls it, the following anecdote is told by that enterprising 

 naturalist : 



" Having shot down a number, some of which were only wounded, 

 the whole flock swept repeatedly round their prostrate companions, and 

 again settled on a low tree, within twenty yards of the spot where 1 

 stood. At each successive discharge, though showers of them fell, yet 

 the affection of the survivors seemed rather to increase ; for, after a few 

 circuits round the place, they again .alighted near me, looking down on 

 their slaughtered companions with such manifest symptoms of sympathy 

 and concern, as entirely disarmed me." 



Wilson also makes mention of a singular idea, that the brains and 

 intestines of the Carolina Parrot (which lives on cockle-burs) are 

 poisonous to Cats. Why the brains should be so is rather incomprehen- 



BLUK AND YELLOW MACAW. 



