THE PARROTS 121 



Guiana, and adjacent countries, wrote about these birds in 

 glowing words : — 



" Superior in size and beauty to every Parrot in South 

 America, he [the Macaw] forces you to take your eyes 

 from all else and gaze at him. His commanding strength, 

 the flaming scarlet of his body, the lovely variety of red, 

 yellow, blue, and green in his wings, the extraordinary 

 length of his scarlet and blue tail, seem all to join and 

 demand for him the title of emperor of all the Parrots. 



" When the coucourite trees have ripe fruit on them, 

 they are covered with this magnificent Parrot. He is 

 not shy or wary ; you may take your blow-pipe and 

 quiver of poisoned arrows, and kill more than you are 

 able to carry back to your hut. They are very vociferous, 

 and, like the common Parrots, rise up in bodies [flocks] 

 towards sunset, and fly two and two to their place of 

 rest." 



Waterton is speaking here of the Red and Blue 

 Macaw ; but he mentions also the Blue and Yellow 

 Macaw, whose noisy cries help to make the Parrot quarter 

 at the Zoo a veritable babel at times. 



In that delightful book Across a Continent in a Man-of- 

 War" (1909), which records how H.M.S. Pelorus steamed 

 two thousand miles up the river Amazon, the author, 

 who was a petty officer on board, tells of the entrancing 

 sights seen by the crew on her strange and novel, voyage. 

 Right through the country of the Macaws the ship came 

 gliding. " About two or three hours after starting," says 

 Mr. Highams, "we began to witness some magnificent 

 scenery, the banks being lined on either side with lovely 

 troj)ical trees and plants. . . . At one time we were in 

 mid-stream, and the next so close to the banks that birds 

 of all descriptions and plumage could be seen, and the 



