BLUE AND YELLOW MAGAW. 77 



learn to speak, and which they invariably pronounce more distinctly 

 than any other, should be the dissyllable "Robert": but so it is, and 

 yet we do not think it forms any part of their natural vocabulary : all 

 the Macaws we have known repeat the word Eobert very distinctly, 

 and this seems also to have been the case in the time of the authors 

 just quoted, who observe upon this subject: "A very fine one (Blue 

 and Yellow Macaw) is completely domesticated at Dr. NeilFs, Canon- 

 mills, near Edinburgh, and allowed the freedom of several apartments; 

 when desirous of being noticed, it calls out " Eobert", the name of 

 its earliest master, very distinctly; but it has not acquired more than 

 one other conventional sound." 



Several instances are on record in which the Blue and Yellow Macaw 

 has nested and hatched its young in this country and on the continent; 

 and we cannot help thinking that if the birds were more frequently 

 kept in pairs than they are, there would, be little or no difficulty in 

 inducing them to breed in an appropriately furnished apartment. 



The one great objection to the keeping of all the Macaws is their 

 noise, but this can, by judicious management, be certainly minimised; 

 once a bird has contracted the habit of shrieking, good-bye to peace 

 and quiet, as long as it remains in the house: the obvious remedy 

 being not to permit the bird to acquire the distressing habit, which, 

 once contracted, grows with its growth, and becomes intensified with 

 its increase in years, until at last a parting must take place between 

 bird and owner, and that on the part of the latter in absolute self- 

 defence. 



The Blue and Yellow Macaw is an old inhabitant of the aviary, and 

 instances are on record where it has bred in captivity as far back as 

 the year 1818. 



M. Lamouroux, who was the owner of these birds, relates their family 

 achievements in the following terms: — "In four years and a half, from 

 the month of March, 1818, to the end of August, 1822, these birds 

 laid sixty-two eggs, in nineteen broods. Of this number, twenty-five 

 eggs produced young ones, of which ten only died. The others lived, 

 and became perfectly accustomed to the climate. They laid eggs at 

 all seasons; and the broods became more frequent and more productive, 

 in the course of time; and in the end much fewer were lost. The 

 number of eggs in the nest used to vary, six having been together 

 at one time; and these Macaws were seen to bring four young ones 

 at once. These eggs took from twenty to twenty-five days to be 

 hatched, like those of our common hens. Their form was that of a 

 pear, a little flattened, and their length equal to that of a Pigeon's 

 egg. It was only between the fifteenth and five and twentieth day 



