186



Lord Braboukne,



affair, and the following subjects all lived unfettered in their cap¬

tivity, coming and going at their own sweet will, and for the most

part sooner or later roamed away to their native forest or swamp.

Indeed, in a spot where a Humming Bird’s (Chlorostilbon aureo-

ventris ) nest was discovered under the eaves, where Toucans, Trogons

and Parrakeets would perch in a tree not 50 yards from where one

fed daily and where Tinamous (C. Tcitaupa) would be calling and

answering each other in the garden itself, any kind of restraint

would seem veritable sacrilege.


On arrival in Paraguay the menagerie consisted of but one

bird, a Red Macaw ( A. Macao) ; beyond the fact that his wing was

cut he was entirely free ; this to the detriment of a vine-covered

“ pergola ” and the thatched roof. His usual perch was on the

half-walled-up side of the hut, and from there he descended with

regularity at meal times and climbed up on to the back of the

nearest chair, if his demands were not attended to with the utmost

speed, he would draw attention by gently worrying the neck or

shoulder of the occupant of the chair. The intelligence with which

he understood the reproof or caress implied by the intonation of his

name was a marvel. If the former he would scuttle down from off

the chair, pausing every yard or so in his bow-legged shamble to look

upwards and listen for the least sign of relenting, and, if this was

detected, he used to return shamelessly to his original spot to pursue

his persecutions. Macaws occasionally flew overhead, upon which

the captive would call and the passing birds answer. Once a flock

of six came right down and flew several times round the house

within a few yards, and the tame bird became quite frantic in his

efforts to use his clipped wings.


At a spot some 40 miles northwards, where there are large

grassy openings in the forest, sprinkled with many low palms bearing

in March a yellow fruit called “ Yataitv,” the Blue and Yellow

Macaws ( A. Ararauna) collect in numbers to feed, and a native

makes a yearly custom of netting them with a call-bird and selling

the birds in Villa Rica and Asuncion. He had just returned, and his

catch of over 50 was loose with wings cut in the garden. The noise

may be imagined : also the state of some half-dozen orange trees, in

which the birds were placed; but oranges in Paraguay are as



