BED AND BLUE MAG AW. 71 



forests of Brazil and G-uiana; Dr. Puss adds " Mexico and Peru", but 

 we doubt its occurrence in the former country; its bead- quarters ap- 

 pear to be the Amazon region, wbicb it shares with numerous species 

 of the Psittacidce. 



Waterton, writing of the bird under consideration, observes, "Su- 

 perior in size and beauty to any Parrot of South America, the Ara 

 will force you to take your eyes from the rest of animated nature 

 and gaze at him: his commanding strength, the naming scarlet of his 

 body, the lovely variety of red, yellow, blue, and green in his wings, 

 the extraordinary length of his scarlet and blue tail, seem all to join 

 and demand for him the title of Emperor of all the Parrots", which 

 is a still higher title than we had ventured to confer upon him in the 

 opening sentences of this chapter. 



"He is scarce in Demerara", continues our author, "until you reach 

 the confines of the Macoushi country; there he is in vast abundance: 

 he mostly feeds on trees of the palm species. When the coucourite 

 trees have ripe fruit upon them, they are covered with this magnificent 

 Parrot. He is not shy or wary; you may take your blowpipe and a 

 quiver of poisoned arrows and kill more than you are able to carry 

 back to your hut." 



Let us hope the American naturalist was never guilty of such a 

 piece of wanton cruelty, not to say sacrilege as that he hints at here : 

 he continues, "They are very vociferous, and like the common Parrots, 

 rise up in bodies towards sunset, and fly two and two to their places 

 of rest. It is a grand sight in ornithology to see thousands of Aras 

 flying over your head, low enough to let you have a full view of their 

 flaming mantle. The Indians find the flesh very good, and the feathers 

 serve for ornaments in their head-dresses." 



These birds make their nests in the holes of trees, which they en- 

 large and fashion to their liking: there are usually two broods in the 

 season, of two young each time; male and female sit alternately upon 

 the eggs, which are generally two, very rarely three, in number. It 

 is not unusual for the females of this species to lay in captivity, and 

 even to evince a strong desire to incubate, but young ones are rare, 

 and we know of no well authenticated instance in which they have 

 reared their offspring in captivity: seeing, however, that the Red and 

 Blue Macaws that are brought into this country, were taken when 

 quite young from their nest, reared by hand, and are consequently 

 quite tame, there seems no reason why they should not freely breed 

 here, as well as many of their congeners, but in all probability this 

 is because no serious attempt as ever been made to induce them to 

 nest in our aviaries. 



