PARROT. 109 



7 — HYACINTHINE MACCAW. 



Psittacus Hyacinthinus, Jnd. Orn. i. p. 84 



Augustus, Mus. Lev. No. 2. t. ii. 



Le Guacamayo bleu, Voy. d'Azara. ir. No. 273. 



Hyacinthine Maccaw, Gen. Syn. Sup. ii. p. 80. iVaf. Misc. pi. 609. Shaw's Zool. viii. 

 393. 



THIS rare species is the size of the blue Maccaw ; length two 

 feet four inches. Bill very large and black ; cere at the base straw- 

 colour ; the body very deep blue, inclining to violet ; quills and tail 

 violet-blue, with a tinge of green on the margins ; orbits and chin 

 covered with a naked, yellowish, skin ; tail as in the blue Maccaw, 

 but not more than half the length ; legs dusky ash-colour. 



Inhabits South America. Lord Orford was in possession of a 

 living one of this species, and the only one known to exist ; which, 

 after death, was introduced into the Leverian Museum; but at that 

 time not known from whence it came. 



Mr. Pennant gives an account of a similar one, in these words — 

 " The late Lord Orford had a Parrot, a true Maccaw, which he was 

 certain came from the East Indies ; it was as large as the Brazilian : 

 the upper part blue ; the breast below deep yellow." This account 

 was transmitted to Lord Barrington, in a letter from Lord Orford, 

 August 28, 1788. — M. d'Azara found several pairs of the Hyacin- 

 thine Maccaw between the 27 and 29 deg. of lat. of South America • 

 but never more to the northward ; though he is assured, that they 

 are also to be met with in lat. 33^ ; and that they not only build in 

 the holes of the trees, but likewise in holes made in the perpendicular 

 banks of the rivers Parana and Uruguay. The female differs only in 

 being smaller : one of these, supposed a male, in Mr. Bullock's Mu- 

 seum, has the tail as long as the rest of the bird. 



