566 PSITTACID^. 



much in evidence wherever it occurs. It frequents forest-clearings and open pine-clad 

 savanas like those of Poctun in the district of Peten, and flies in pairs or a number of 

 pairs together. In Honduras and Nicaragua Ara macao seems to be very abundant, as 

 testified by G. C. Taylor ^, Leyland ^4, Nutting ^^, and Richmond ^^ ; the last-named 

 collector found tvpo eggs in a tree which he cut down in February. In Costa Rica 

 it appears to be equally common, and we have specimens from the Line of the Panama 

 Railway, where it occurs with Ara chloroptera. 



3, Ara chloroptera. 



Ara chloropterus, G. R. Gray, List Psitt. Brit. Mus. p. 26 (1859) '. 



Ara chloroptera, Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1864, p. 367 =; Salv. Ibis, 1871, p. 90'; Salvad. Cat. Birds 

 Brit. Mus. XX. p. 156 \ 



Saturate coccinea, dorso postico et tectrieibus supracaudalibus pallide cseruleis ; tectricibus alarum minoribuB 

 coocineis, mediis olivaceis, majoribus cseruleis, interscaptdio olivaceo ; remigibus supra cyaneis, subtus et 

 tectrieibus omnibus fusco-coccineis ; rectricibus mediis medialiter fusco-coccineis ad apicem et ad basin 

 caeruleis, duabus proximis similibus sed magis cseruleis, reliquis plerumque cseruleis, omnibus subtus fuseo- 

 cocoineis ; tectrieibus subcaudalibus cseruleis ; rostri maxUla albida ad basin nigra, mandibula nigra, 

 capitis lateribus nudis, carneis, undique plumulis coccineis ornatis ; pedibus nigris. Long, tola circa 34'0, 

 alae 15-5, caudae rectr. med. 20-0, rectr. lat. 7'0, rostri culminis 3'7, tarsi 1-2. (Descr. maris ex Panama. 

 Mus. nostr.) 



Hab. Panama, Lion Hill {M'Leannan ^ ^). — South Ameeica, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, 

 Amazons Valley, and Guiana *. 



This Ara closely resembles A. macao in general coloration, but on examination may 

 readily be distinguished by the median wing-coverts being green instead of chrome- 

 yellow, the darker tint of the red colour, and by the naked cheeks being traversed by 

 narrow lines of scarlet feathers. 



It was not until 1859 that this Macaw was definitely separated from Ara macao by 

 G. R. Gray i, who gave it the name it now bears. It had previously been called by 

 names strictly applicable to the allied form, as shown in Count Salvadori's recently 

 published Catalogue ^. 



Its range, though apparently equally wide as that of A. macao on the South- 

 American continent, is much more restricted in our country and it has as yet only been 

 found on the Isthmus of Panama along the Line of the Railway. It is true that it has 

 been reported from Guatemala, but we should like further evidence before admitting 

 its existence so far north. 



4. Ara mHitaris. 



The Great Green Macaw, Edw. Glean, vii. p. 224, t. 313 '. 



Psittacus militaris, Liun. Syst. Nat. i. p. 139'; Licht. Preis-Verz. Mex. Vog. p. 1 (c/. J. f. Orn. 



1863, p. 54) ' ; Wagl. Isis, 1831, p. 525 \ 

 Macrocercus militaris, Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist. N, ii, p. 261 " ; Sw. Phil. Mag. new ser. i. p. 439 ' ; 



Bp. P. Z. S. 1837, p. 109 ^ Duges, La Nat. i. p. 138'. 



