374 



SCANSOKES.- 



-BIRDS.- 



- PsiTTACID.E. 



The other distinctive characters presented by the 

 Psittacida', besides their prehensile feet and reticulated 

 tarsi, are to be found in the form and structure of the 

 bill and tongue. The former is large and strong, with 

 the upper mandible much longer than the lower one, 

 strongly hooked, and terminating in an acute point. 

 The base of the upper mandible is clothed with a cere, 

 or naked skin, in which the nostrils are situated. The 

 tongue is soft and fleshy, and generally terminates in 

 a rounded knob, a structure verj' different from that 

 prevailing in birds generally, and indicating, in all 

 probability, a much greater acuteness of the sense of 

 taste than usually prevails in this class. 



These birds are found principally in the tropical 

 regions of the globe, in some parts of which they 

 swarm in prodigious numbers. Their great home is 

 the continent of Australia, where they occur in vast 

 quantities, and present a great variety of forms ; but 

 they are also numerous, both in species and individuals, 

 throughout the Eastern islands and India, and manj' 

 species are met \\'ith in the warmer parts of Africa and 

 America. Their notes, especially tliose of the larger 

 species, are generally harsh and discordant, but they 

 make up for this defect in the beauty of their forms, 

 and the brilliancy of their plumage, yielding, in the 

 latter particular, to few members of their class ; hence 

 many of them are frequently imprisoned in cages, and 

 some of these are able to add a further accomplish- 

 ment to those conferred upon tliem by nature, by the 

 focility with which they learn to speak, and to perform 

 vaiious curious and grotesque antics. In a state of 

 nature most of the Parrots feed upon fruits, to which 

 some add seeds and even nuts, the latter being easily 

 broken up by their powerful bills ; a few small species 

 live upon the ground, and derive nearly their whole 

 subsistence from the seeds of grasses and other plants. 

 They nidificate in holes of trees, which they enlarge to 

 suit their purpose by means of their strong gouge-like 

 bills. 



THE SCARLET MACCAW (Macrocercns Macao)— 

 Plate 14, fig. 49. — The Jlaccaws, which are peculiar to 

 the hot regions of South America and the West Indian 

 Islands, are at once distinguishable by the enormous 

 size of their bills, of which the upper mandible is so 

 much curved as to describe nearly a semicircle, and 

 also by the naked skin, furnished with only a few scat- 

 tered and minute feathers, which covers their cheeks. 



Some of these birds are amongst the most splendid 

 of their tribe, and the Scarlet or Red and Blue Maccaw 

 jdelds to none of them in magnificence of plumage. It 

 is also one of the largest species of its family, some- 

 times measuring as much as three feet from the bill to 

 the tip of the long tail. The principal portion of the 

 plumage of this fine bird is of a bright scarlet colour ; 

 the quill-feathers of the wings are of a fine blue ; the 

 greater wing-coveits are yellow, tinged with green; the 

 upper and under tail-coverts are blue, the two middle 

 feathers of the tail crimson, and the remainder of the 

 tail-feathers, which gi-adually decrease in length towards 

 the sides, are partly red and partly blue. The feet are 

 dusky black, the naked skin of the cheeks wrinkled and 

 white, the upper mandible whitish, and the lower one 

 black or dusky. 



This splendid species is an inhabitant of the tropical 

 parts of South America ; it was formerly abundant in 

 the West Indies, but has now become comparatively 

 rare in most of the islands. It dwells in pairs or in 

 small family parties in the depths of the forests, gener- 

 ally taking up its abode about the palm-trees, upon the 

 fruits of which it to a great extent subsists. The nest 

 of this species is made in a hollow tree, and the bottom 

 is lined with feathers. It has two broods in a year, 

 and lays two eggs at each time ; these are about the 

 size of pigeon's eggs. The young birds are pretty 

 easily tamed, although they do not exhibit the docility 

 of many ether parrots, and rarely learn to speak even 

 indistinctly. The great beauty of their plumage, liow- 

 ever, causes them to be highly valued, notwithstanding 

 the excessive harshness of their cry ; and in former 

 times a specimen of this bird was not an unacceptable 

 present even to royalty itself. The natives of South 

 America give the general name of Ara or Araraca to 

 the Maccaws, a denomination which is evidently in 

 imitation of their note. 



THE BLUE AND YELLOW MACCAW {Macrocercns 

 Ararauna) is another large and beautiful species, mea- 

 suring about two feet and a half in lengtii. It has a 

 large black bill; the cheeks are covered with a wrinkled 

 white skin, which bears a few minute black feathers ; 

 the whole upper surface is of a rich and beautiful blue 

 colour, and the lower surface of a fine yellow. The 

 throat bears a large black patch. The long and gra- 

 duated tail is blue above, and yellow beneath. This 

 bird, like the preceding, is an inhabitant of the rich 

 forest regions of tropical South America, where it is 

 especially abundant in marshy places, haunting the 

 palm-trees and feeding upon their fruit. It is very 

 frequently imported into Europe, and appears to be 

 rather more docile than the Scarlet Maccaw. 



THE GREAT GREEN MACCAW {Macrocercus miBaris) 

 has a large and powerful blackish bill, and flesh-coloured 

 cheeks, marked as m the preceding species, with curved 

 lines of minute black or brown feathers. The general 

 colour of the plumage is a fine green, changing to 

 blue on the upper surface ; the forehead bears a 

 crimson band ; the wings, rump, and upper tail-coverts 

 are bright blue ; and the tail-feathers are scarlet. This 

 species is a native of Jlexico and the adjoining western 

 parts of South America, where it is exceedingly abun- 

 dant. In its general habits it resembles the preceding 

 species, but not unfrequently descends upon the planta- 

 tions, and does much damage, especially to the Indian 

 corn-fields, whenever its supply of food in the forest 

 falls short. 



THE SMALL GREEN MACCAW {Macrocefi-cus sevmis), 

 an inhabitant of Guiana and Brazil, is only about the 

 size of a pigeon, measuring seventeen inches in length 

 inclusive of the rather elongated taU. In its characters 

 it seems to present a transition towards the following 

 species, to which the name of Maccaw-parroquets has 

 been given. The general colour of this species is green ; 

 its bill is black, the naked skin of its cheeks flesh colour ; 

 its wings blue, and its tail-feathers tipped and margined 

 with blue ; the lower surftice of both wings and tail is 

 red. In Brazil and Guiana this little maccaw occurs iu 

 great abundance, and descends in numerous flocks upon 



