76 BLUE AND YELLOW MAGAW. 



but their tempers can be ruined, and too often are; no bird is proof 

 against teasing, which utterly demoralizes them, and soon transforms 

 a naturally amiable and gentle bird into something little better than 

 a fiend. 



All the Macaws have large beaks, whence they were not inappro- 

 priately named Macrocerci by Vieillot; but the bird under notice has, 

 perhaps, the most formidable bill of all its congeners, as it measures 

 no less than three inches and a half from its insertion in the skull to 

 its tip, the under mandible is much shorter, but nevertheless of con- 

 siderable size, short and massive, and forming a right angle with the 

 upper when shut. 



As may be guessed from its name in English this bird is dressed 

 in a mantle of deep blue, the forehead, crown, and rump are of the 

 same colour but with a greenish shade; the tail feathers and primaries 

 are indigo blue, with a violet shade, the cheeks are white, naked, and 

 traversed by four narrow zigzag lines, composed of minute black 

 feathers; the chin is black, but all the rest of the under surface of 

 the body is yellow; the large beak is black, and the feet and legs 

 are dark grey; and the under surface of the tail and wings yellow. 



The Blue and Yellow Macaw is a native of Tropical America, but, 

 nevertheless, sufficiently hardy when once fairly acclimatised to resist 

 the cold of our changeable climate, as he has a warm vest of soft 

 down under his robe of blue and yellow feathers. Unlike the preceding 

 species this bird is not found in large flocks, but generally in pairs, 

 which seem to mate for life, and are models of conjugal affection, 

 passing much of their time in caressing and pluming each other: it 

 is a wood-loving bird, too, and seldom approaches the settled districts, 

 so that it has not made itself so many enemies as many members of 

 its race have done. 



The eggs, two in number, are placed in a hole in the trunk of a 

 tree, and the young are quite three months before they leave the nest, 

 and nearly three years elapse before they are fully grown; from which 

 circumstance it may be gathered that they are long-lived birds. The 

 sexes share the task of incubation between them, sitting alternately on 

 the eggs and young. 



"The dimension and form of their wings", write Selby and Jardine, 

 "and long cuneiform tail, indicate a powerful and vigorous flight, and 

 accordingly we are informed that in this respect they are inferior to 

 none of the tribe, their flight being often at a high elevation, and 

 accompanied with a variety of Eerial evolutions, particularly before 

 alighting, which is always upon the summit of the highest trees." 



It seems peculiar that almost the first words these birds should 



