SCARLET MACCAW. 38? 



magnitude, or the great variety and beauty of the 

 colours with which its plumage is adorned. It is 

 the biggest of all the kinds I have met with: 

 when the tail is perfect, I have found some of them 

 to measure more than thirty-six inches from bill- 

 point to tail-end: the arch of the upper man- 

 dible of the bill, from the forehead to the point of 

 the bill is near three inches: the leg, from the 

 knee downwards, is not an inch and half long; the 

 longest toe, with the claw, is two inches and a half 

 long: the upper mandible of the bill is whitish, 

 except on each side next the head, where it is 

 dusky : the lower mandible is black or dusky : it 

 hath not a bare skin, covering the bill, as some 

 Parrots have : the nostrils are placed in the upper 

 part of the bill, just within the feathers : the bill is 

 great and strong ; the tongue roundish and soft; 

 the sides of the head, from the bill backwards, for 

 a good broad space, are bare of feathers, and 

 covered with a whitish, wrinkled, rough skin : in 

 the upper parts of these spaces the eyes are placed, 

 whose irides are yellow: the head, neck, breast, 

 belly, thighs, upper part of the back, and 

 lesser covert-feathers of the wings are of a very 

 fine bright red or scarlet colour : the quill-feathers 

 of the wings are of a very fine blue on their out- 

 sides, and a faint red on their under sides : the 

 first feathers next above the quills are of a fine 

 yellow colour, some of the feathers being tipped 

 with green: the blue quills which fall next the 

 back are tinged with green : the hinder part of the 

 thi^h has some green intermixed with the red : 



