ORNITHOLOGY, 



PSITTACUS VIRIDIS. GREEN PARROQUET. 



FROM NEW HOLLAND. 



THE Aras, or Macaw, has been generally placed by 

 Naturalists at the head of the numerous family of the Par- 

 rot tribe, and that chiefly from their superior size and the 

 magnificent display which they make of their great length 

 of tail. This distinction seems very proper and indeed 

 due to them, as it is according to the order of other ar- 

 rangements of Natural History, the Eagle and Vulture 

 being placed before the Falcons and Hawks; by this means 

 we naturally descend to the smaller and less conspicuous 

 kinds of the Parrot and Parroquet. The Aras, or Macaw, 

 is discriminated from the other orders by a very particular 

 mark, which consists in the naked cheek, or rather by a 

 naked membrane, which being without feathers, embraces 

 not only the whole of the face but also the lower mandible 

 of the beak. This membrane which surrounds the eye, 

 gives to the Physiognomy of the Aras, a disdainful and dis- 

 agreeable character, it is always found to be white in the 

 Aras of the New Continent, at least in those species hitherto 

 found. All of them have the tail very long and Variously 

 divided and joined ; to these peculiar characters of all the 

 Parrotts in general, a bill strong and crooked, which serves 

 them for climbing ; the upper mandible moveable, the 

 tongue plump and round and quite blunt ; the nostrils round 

 and situated at the base of the beak, two toes before and two 

 behind, of which the foremost are very much flattened ; 

 the tarsus of the foot is short and depressed, and which 

 forms a rest for their feet when walking. 



These birds, according to the report of travellers, gene* 

 rally fly in troops ; they perch on the most elevated branches 



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^»^//^ 

 RICHMOND 

 COLLECT' 



