42 cassell's book of birds. 



green, bordered with black, the wing-feathers blood-red, yellow at the tip, and the shafts blue. The 

 two middle tail-feathers are green, the tip and outer web are blue, and near the root of a light blood- 

 red. The beak is horn grey at the tip and paler at the base, with a rose-coloured spot on both 

 sides beneath the nostrils ; the legs are of a greyish slate colour, the eye-rings bluish grey, and the 

 eyes greyish brown. The female resembles the male, but is somewhat paler. In the young, grey is 

 generally the prevailing hue ; in old birds blue predominates. 



According to the testimony of travellers, particularly the Prince von Wied, Schomburghk, and 

 Burmeister, the Maitakka inhabits all the country near the coast in Brazil and Guiana, where these 

 birds are met with in great numbers. They live in pairs in the dry season, and assemble in large 

 flocks during the rainy part of the year, flying with loud cries from tree to tree, and settling upon 

 those most heavily laden with fruit, to which they often do great damage, returning in the evening to 

 their usual resting-places. Their movements depend upon the time when the different fruits are ripe, 

 and to enjoy these they fly about the country in various directions, during the rainy season approach- 

 ing nearer to the plantations on the coast and open country, but in the hotter part of the year 

 keeping more immediately in the neighbourhood of the principal forests. 



The flocks of these birds are very noisy ; but when pairing they only utter their call-note, which 

 is a shrill, harsh cry. They breed during the dry season, and their preparations for sitting do not 

 differ from those of other parrots. The Maitakka is hunted zealously throughout the whole of 

 Brazil, partly in order to drive it from the plantations, and partly for the sake of its flesh. It is often 

 tamed, and though not so teachable as other parrots, soon becomes accustomed to captivity, and can 

 be taught to utter disjointed words. Great numbers are brought to the coast, and eagerly purchased 

 by sailors, for though very numerous in Europe, these birds always command a high price. With 

 care they can endure confinement for many years. 



THE CRESTED HAWK PARROT. 



One of the American parrots which we include in this family reminds us of the cockatoos, and 

 must be considered as the type of a peculiar tribe (Deroptyus). Linnaeus, who was acquainted with 

 it, gave it two distinct names, the one on account of its sparrow-hawk-like plumage (Deroptyus 

 accipitrinus), the other, because of its frill of elongated feathers (Deroptyus coronatus). We will call 

 it the Crested Hawk-Parrot, seeing that the long feathers on the nape of the neck, which can be 

 raised at pleasure, distinguish it from other South American species. 



The beak is large, strongly but bluntly toothed, and having the ridge of the upper mandible 

 powerfully hooked and projecting. The cere is short, and its margin curved like the letter S. The 

 eyes are surrounded by a broad bare circle ; the bluntly-pointed wings reach to the middle of the 

 tail, the latter being of tolerable length and formed of rounded feathers, of which the three exterior 

 on both sides are shortly graduated; the legs are weak, and the toes long. The plumage is on 

 the whole extremely rich, of a pale yellowish-grey upon the head ; the exterior margin of the 

 forehead is of a brown colour ; the crest is composed of dull blood-red feathers, edged with sky 

 blue. The plumage on the back is light green, somewhat darker in the middle than on the sides, 

 and the feathers on the lower part of the body are, as far as they are visible, blood-red. The 

 sides of the cheeks and the throat are of a brownish tint ; the primaries quite black, and the 

 secondaries similarly coloured on both sides. The tail is bluish on its upper surface, and black 

 underneath. Burmeister gives the length of this rare and beautiful species as being fourteen 

 inches, five and a half of which belong to the tail : the wing measures seven inches from the shoulder 

 to the tip. 



