120 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



slightly flattened and subtruncate transversely at tip) ; maxillary 

 tomium more or less incised subterminally, but not distinctly notched 

 nor toothed; depth of mandible at base very slightly to decidedly 

 less than length of gonys, slightly greater than its extreme width; 

 mandible with under side very broadly rounded, sometimes with a 

 median sulcus, sometimes with a more or less distinct median ridge, on 

 proximal portion, the width of its chisel-like, flattened, and truncate 

 tip equal to not much if any more than one-third the length of gonys. 

 Wing rather long and pointed, the longest primaries exceeding 

 distal secondaries by two-fifths to nearly half the length of wing; 

 seventh, eighth, and ninth, or eighth and ninth, primaries longest, 

 the tenth (outermost) longer than sixth (sometimes equal to seventh) ; 

 tip of seventh primary sometimes more or less distinctly attenuated 

 (A. maracana and A. auricoUis) . Tail as long as or longer than wing, 

 graduated for more than half its length, the rectrices tapering ter- 

 minally, but with tip rounded. Tarsus much shorter than outer 

 hind toe without claw. 



Plumage and coloration. — Cere usually covered with dense, short, 

 erect feathers, wholly or partially concealing nostrils (wholly naked, 

 the nostrils fully exposed, in A. ararauna); orbital and suborbital 

 regions, more or less of loral region, and greater part of malar region, 

 together with chin, naked, sometimes with narrow lines of small, 

 short feathers across cheeks. Tail red or reddish, tipped (more or 

 less extensively) with blue, or else wholly blue above; primaries and 

 their coverts blue; rump and upper tail-coverts blue or green; rest 

 of plumage mostly red or green, or (A. ararauna and A. caninde) 

 upper parts blue, under parts orange-yellow. 



Range. — Southern Mexico to western Ecuador, eastern Peru, 

 Bolivia, Paraguay, central Brazil, Guiana, and Trinidad; also Cuba, 

 and formerly Jamaica, Guadeloupe, Dominica, and Martinique, in 

 the West Indies. (Twelve existing species; three or four additional 

 West Indian species have become extinct.)" 



«■ Of tie existing species, the following have not been examined in connection with 

 the preparation of this article: A. caninde (Wagler), A. rubrigena Lafresnaye, and A. 

 couloni Sclater. The first is closely related to A. ararauna; the second and last are 

 small species, more or less resembling A. severa and A. maracana. 



While nearly convinced that the group containing the smaller species with relatively 

 small bill and narrower rectrices {A. severa, A. rubrigena, A. maracana, A. couloni, and 

 A. auricoUis) should be separated generically from Ara proper, containing the very 

 large, crass-billed species with broader rectrices (A. ararauna, A. caninde, A. macao, 

 A. chloroptera, A. militaris, and A. ambigua), I have not been able to find satisfactory 

 characters on which to base such separation, especially with several of the species not 

 available for comparison. Better results may, perhaps, attend the efforts of some one 

 who may be able to take the matter up with all the species before him. 



