564 PSITTAOID^. 



ring," or ring of bone surrounding the eye, is complete, and the furcula is present. 

 The lores are naked, as are also, for the most part, the cheeks, except in such cases as 

 the latter are traversed by narrow lines of small feathers, as in A. chloroptera. These 

 latter characters distinguish Ara from the other genera of this subfamily, and from 

 Conurus and Rhynchopdttacus, to which it is most nearly allied. 



1. Ara ararauna. 



The Blue and Yellow Maccaw, Edw. Birds, iv. p. 159, t. 159 \ 

 Psittacus ararauua, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 139 ^ 



Ara ararauna, G. E. Gray; Cassin, Pr. Ac. Phil. 1860, p. 137'; Salv.Ibis, 1871, p. 90*; Salvad. 

 Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xx. p. 152'. 



Supra caerulea, ce'rta luce viridescens, fronte et pileo antico olivaceis; genis nudis, lineis plumosis nigri- 

 cantibus notatis ; gula nuda, plumis nigris postice marginata ; tectricibus auricularibus, cervicis lateribus, 

 corpore subtus et tectricibus subalaiibus aurantio-flavis ; rostro et pedibus nigris ; iride (ave viva) viridi- 

 grisea. Long, tota circa 31-0, alse 15"0, caudae reotr. med. 20-0, rectr. lat. 12-0, rostri culminis 1"9, 

 tarsi I'l. (Descr. maris ex Chepo, Panama. Mus. nostr.) 



Hob. Panama, Chepo {Arc6 ^). — South Amekica, Colombia ^, Amazons Valley, Bolivia, 

 and Guiana ^. 



Our knowledge of the existence of this Macaw is of very early date, going back as 

 far as the works of Aldovrandus (1646) and Marcgrave (1648), and in the following 

 century it was figured by George Edwards ^ and described by Linnaeus ^. 



It is a very well-known South-American species as a tenant of menageries from 

 early times. 



The range of Ara ararauna extends over a large part of tropical South America, and 

 it is found from Colombia in the extreme north-west to Guiana and the whole of the 

 valley of the Amazons to the base of the Andes of Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. In 

 Paraguay its place is taken by an allied form, A. caninde, which has a similar coloration, 

 but the throat is bluish-green instead of black, and the lines of small feathers which 

 cross the naked space of the lores and cheeks are dark green. 



Ara ararauna only just enters our limits. It was found at the mouth of the Atrato, 

 in the Gulf of Uraba, by the naturalists who accompanied Lieut. Michler in his 

 exploring expedition to the Isthmus of Darien ^ ; and our collector Arce sent us a single 

 specimen from Chepo, a place on the Isthmus of Panama, about 40 miles south of the 

 city. Dr. Finsch quotes Leyland as an authority for its occurrence in Honduras; but 

 its name does not appear in the published lists of Leyland's birds, nor has any 

 subsequent collector, and there have been many, found it in this region. We therefore 

 conclude that the southern extremity of the Isthmus of Panama is the limit of the 

 northern range of this Macaw. 



