MILITARY MACAW. 67 



some decayed patriarch of the forest, whose huge leafless branches 

 seem to furnish them with convenient seats, or rather stands, for the 

 ceremony that is to follow: here, amid the utmost noise and vociferation, 

 they take their stand, facing the rising sun, and display their wings 

 and tails to his genial beams; one might suppose the flock to be 

 engaged in sun-worship; but no, they are merely drying their plumage 

 damped by the heavy dews of night, and their loud conversation is 

 probably nothing more than an expression of their delight at feeling 

 once more dry and warm and comfortable; though, perhaps, they may 

 also be deliberating whither they will proceed to breakfast : the planta- 

 tion of so and so is very strictly guarded, the crops of some one else 

 have already paid heavy toll, and so on: for when warmed and dried, 

 the Macaws fly off in little parties in search of their favourite food, 

 but meet again in the evening at their accustomed drinking place, 

 and then retire in company to roost for the night. 



The hours of feeding, drinking, and reposing are mostly observed 

 with the greatest regularity, so that a person who has watched their 

 habits for a little time, will be able to predict, almost to a minute, 

 their arrival at, or their withdrawal from, a given place which they 

 are known to frequent. 



Supposing their toilet to be completed half an hour or so after sun- 

 rise, they continue feeding until about 10 a.m., when they fly to the 

 watercourse they frequent to bathe and drink: by the time they have 

 washed and dried themselves again, it is getting on towards noon, 

 and the rays of the sun are descending- on the ]and with almost 

 fiercest power: the Macaws and many other species take shelter from 

 the heat among the densest foliaged trees they can find, and there 

 doze and digest, amid the profoundest stillness until the afternoon, 

 when they pay a second visit to the water and to their feeding- 

 grounds: having satisfied their appetite they retire to the dead tree 

 where they met in the morning, as if to close the day as, apparently, 

 they began it, by some act of homage to the orb of day, and their 

 worship, if such it be, ended, they retire to their usual camping- 

 ground. 



During the breeding season, however, the programme of the day is 

 not quite strictly kept; a couple of young Macaws require a good deal 

 of attention, and the parents have to forage far and wide for their 

 support: whether it be the strict habit of this family to have but two 

 young ones at a time, is somewhat doubtful; for it is certain that in 

 captivity, when they do breed, they occasionally have three and four 

 in a brood: we have known as many as seven in one nest, but in 

 that instance they all died, seemingly from inability of the parents to 



