114 



PARROTS. 



True Macaws. 



base of the lower jaw. The bhxck beak is of unusually large size even for a 

 macaw, and the feet are blackish. The total length of this tine bird is about 

 34 inches, of which 20i are taken up by the tail. The hyacintliine macaw is a 

 somewhat rare species, and although inhabiting the dense tropical forests affected 

 by the other macaws, it is said by Azara to ditier markedly in regard to 

 its breeding-habits. In place of building in some hollow tree, it is stated to 

 scoop out a burrow on the bank of a river, where it lays a pair of eggs ; two 

 broods being reared in a season. These birds — the ararauna of the natives — 

 fly, according to Bates, in pairs, and feed on palm-nuts, which, although so hard 

 as to be difficult to break with a heavy hammer, are crushed to pulp by their 

 beaks. The skulls of the hyacintliine macaw and its congeners differ from those 

 of ordinary macaws in the incompleteness of the bony ring round the eye. The 

 same feature is probably also characteristic of Spix's macaw {Cyaiiopsittacus 

 t^pixi), which, although agreeing with the ararauna in its blue coloration, differs 

 by the naked lore, on which account it is regarded as representing a <listinct 

 genus. 



The true macaws differ from the preceding in the absence of 

 blue on the under part of the body, and also by the completeness 



of the bony ring in the skull round 

 the eye. In all of them the lores, as 

 5, well as a larger or smaller area of the 

 cheeks, are devoid of feathers. The 

 range of these splendid birds, which 

 are locally known as araras, extends 

 from Mexico to Bolivia and Paraguay, 

 certain species ranging in the Andes 

 to elevations of some ten thousand 

 feet above the sea. 



Of the fourteen recognised 

 species, a few of the better-known 

 will alone be mentioned. Among 

 these the red-and-blue macaw (Ara 

 macao), represented on the right side 

 of our coloured Plate, is one of the handsomest. In this species the general 

 colour of both the upper and under -jmrts is vermilion red, while the upper 

 wing-coverts are chrome-yellow : the lower part of the back, the rump, upper and 

 lower tail-coverts, together with the quills of the wings being blue. The tail- 

 feathers are scarlet, with more or less blue at their tips (except in the central 

 pair) and on their outer edges, the outermost being almost wholly blue. Beneath, 

 both the tail and wing-feathers are golden-red, while the greater and upper median 

 wing-coverts, as well as the scapulars, are yellow tipped with green. In size tliis 

 splendid bird attains a total length of 3 feet, nearly 2 of which are taken up by 

 the tail. Its range is large, extending from Mexico to Guiana and the Amazon 

 Valley. In marked contrast to the above, is the coloration of the blue and yellow 

 macaw (A. ararcmna), depicted at the top of our Plate. In this bird while 

 the upper surface of the body, wings, and tail is blue, almost the wliole of the 



^jtt**'^*'-'' 



HEAD OF MACAW. 



