HYACINTHINE MAG AW. 63 



are fairly intelligent birds, and may be taught to speak, not only 

 single words, but even short sentences: the specimen in our Zoological 

 Gardens, for instance, always shouts out, when he sees us approaching 

 him, "Come along, come along'', and occasionally, " Hollo there! give 

 us a piece", or words to that effect; so that, if we had accommodation 

 for them, we should feel inclined to try some of them for breeding; 

 but surrounded as we are by neighbours, most of whom have no sympathy 

 with our ornithological pursuits, we feel that to attempt to keep any 

 of these fine birds is simply impracticable, for they are so terribly 

 noisy, that a summons or two to appear before the County Court 

 Judge as a nuisance would be certain to greet us before long, and 

 we have no desire thus to figure before the world; so we are fain to 

 restrict our collection, and keep only the comparatively silent members 

 of the Parrot race. 



Dr. Russ calls this bird the largest of them all (der grosste von alien), 

 but it is much of a size with the Red and Yellow and the Yellow 

 and Blue Macaws, although larger than the Military Macaw, and quite 

 three times the size of the bird to which the name of Illiger was 

 given by Burmeister. 



The beak of this species is truly, as Dr. Russ terms it, colossal, jet 

 black, and appears calculated to give a formidable bite, but the creature 

 that owns it, is, at least all the specimens of the species that we have 

 known, extremely gentle, and may be freely handled, even by strangers, 

 which is more than most of the Parrots will permit, speaking much 

 for its intelligence and docility; it is a pity it is so seldom imported, 

 but even in its own country it does not appear to be very common; 

 another incentive to attempt breeding it in captivity. 



The Hon. and Rev. F. G. DuttorC s account of the Hyacinthine 

 Macaw (Ara hyacinthina). 



The Hyacinthine Macaw deserves to head the list, not only of Macaws 

 but of Parrots, for it is probably the biggest Parrot out. Its colour 

 is a deep, puce blue, not so grey in tinge as the Glaucous Macaw, 

 which is otherwise very like it in size and colour. It has only a very 

 small yellow cere at the side of the beak, instead of the bare cheeks 

 of the Red and Blue, and Blue and Yellow Macaws. 



The Hyacinthine and Glaucous Macaws differ in a marked manner 

 from the other Macaws, not only in the size of their beak and the 

 portentious strength of their jaws (my Hyacinthine easily bent the 

 wires of one of Groom's indestructible Macaw cages), but also in their 

 disposition. Not that I have anything to say against the disposition 



