61 



©YACINTHINE I^ACAW. 



Psittacus hyacinthinus, Russ. 



Synonyms: Ara hyacinthina, Ge., Schlgl.; Psittacus Augustus, Shw. ; 



Psittacara cobaltina, Bej.; Macrocercus Augustus, Stph.; 



Macrocercus hyacinthinus, Lss.; Anodorhyncus Maximiliani, Spx.; 



Arara hyacinthinus, Fnsch.; Sittace hyacinthinus, Wgl. 



Geeman: Der hyazinthblaue Arara. 



rT^HIS is a very rare bird, possessed by a few Zoological Gardens 

 -L only; its general colour is deep blue, and it is, as Dr. Russ re- 

 marks, distinguislied by a particularly colossal beak (mit besonders 

 kolossalem Schnabel). 



A very fine specimen lias survived for a considerable time in the 

 Gardens of the London Zoological Society, where it has learned to 

 repeat a few words, and is especially partial to the youthful visitors, 

 who, with no lavish hand, share their buns and cakes with it, as it 

 screams and swings just above their heads on the perch to which it 

 is chained under the trees, by the Parrot-house, facing the Regent's 

 Canal. 



The usual diet is maize, hemp, monkey-nuts, to which may be added 

 biscuits, nuts of all kinds, apples and fruit; it is one of the few 

 Parrots in the "Zoo" that is permitted to drink, and certainly appears 

 to thrive on the regimen provided for it. 



We do not admire any of the Macaws, and would not be tempted 

 to keep one of them for a good deal; still we cannot quite agree 

 with Mr. Wiener that "their huge size, brilliant feathers, and loud 

 screams are a very good advertisement for a travelling menagerie, to 

 whom amateurs had better abandon these birds, unless some one would 

 care to construct a wrought-iron in-door aviary (I doubt whether bricks 

 and mortar would be proof against their beaks) to make an attempt 

 at breeding." 



