578 CLASS AVES. , 



the maccaw plaiit {BorassuJsflabeUifer)^ and frei^uents the wot 

 savannahs in search of it ; it feeds also, occ;vsionally, and 

 perliaps only in the absencx^ of more grateful aliment, on the 

 manchineel apple, which imparts its ^XMsonous qualities to 

 the flesh, and renders these birds sometimes injurious to the 

 Indians who eat them. The etjgs are said to l>e sjxitteil. and 

 to resemble those of tlie partridge ; but Dr. Lathan\ states, 

 on the authority of a gentleman who kept a tame maccaw, 

 which laid several eggs, that these were white. 



Though without the dcvilitv and pleasing manners of many 

 parrots, these birds, if taken young, may, nevertheless, be 

 taught to be interesting and atuusing, and to repeat several 

 words ; their natural voice, however, is rough and disagree- 

 able, .and in common with the geuus, their disposition is com- 

 pjiratively sedate. 



The Pacouatie Parrot^ Psuyanensi^s^ Lin., which stands 

 first in our table of the Parrot Maccaws, CoMRrs of Kuhl, 

 is extremely common in Guiana and the Antilles, where they 

 are fovmd in flocks, during the day, in the forests, but in the 

 mornings and evenings they resort to the meadows and 

 streams. They do great damage to the coffee plantations, by 

 eating the pulp which surrounds the graui. 



Birds of this species are noisy, imjxiTtunate, and mis- 

 chievous, but are easily taught to pronounce words ; indeed 

 Le Vaillant mentions one wliich could recite the Lord^s 

 prayer, in Dutch, lying at the same time on its back, and 

 joining its toes together as men join their hands in prayer. 



The division with arrow-shapetl tails, Pal.eorxis of Vigors 

 and Horsfleld, we shall illustrate by a figure of the Blue- 

 hoDiied Parrakc<ts the P. Vetiu^tu^ of Temminck ; it is 

 olive-green on the upper parts, and beneath yellow ; on the 

 forehead is a deep blue Ivind ; the rectices blue, with the tips 

 yellow ; the quills are black. 



Dr. Horsfield has described six species of the Tbicho- 



