MACAWS— PAROQUETS— OSTRICHES. 



66d 



rior in size and beauty to every parrot of South America," says Waterton, " the Ara 

 (Macrocercus macao) will force you to take your eyes from the rest of animated na- 

 ture, and gaze at him : his commanding strength ; the flaming 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 form and demand for him the title of 

 Emperor of all the parrots." 



The Paroquets, or Parakeets, are smaller than the common parrots, and have longer 

 tails. There are numerous species, some distinguished by a very long pointed tail, 

 and collar-like mark round the neck, which inhabit the Asiatic continent and islands ; 

 and others, natives of Australia, which are distinguished by their color being gor- 

 geously variegated and peculiarly mottled on the back, by their tail feathers not being 

 pointed, and by their being furnished with elongated tarsi adapted for running on the 

 ground. To the former belongs the beautiful ring paroquet, which is supposed to 

 have been the first bird of the parrot kind known to the ancient Greeks, having been 

 brought from the island of Ceylon, after the Indian expeditions of Alexander the 

 Great ; to the latter, the elegant green parakeet, which in the hot seasons congregates 

 about the pools in almost incredible numbers. Though capable of a rapid and even 

 flight, and frequently at great altitudes, it is generally found running over the ground, 

 and treading its way among the grasses to feed on the seeds. It can easily be domes- 

 ticated, and a more elegant or beautiful pet can scarcely be conceived. 



It is a strange fact that the parrots, that will eat nux vomica without danger, expire 

 in convulsions after having tasted parsley, another proof of the truth of the saying 

 that what is poison for one creature is food for another. 



In the African plains and wildernesses, where the lion seeks his prey, where the 

 pachyderms make the earth tremble under their weighty strides, where the giraffe 

 plucks the high branches of the acacia, and the herds of the antelope bound along : 

 there also dwells the Ostrich, the king of birds, if size alone give right to so proud a 

 title ; for neither the condor nor the albatross can be compared in this respect to the 

 ostrich, who raises his head seven or eight feet above the ground, and attains a weight 

 of from two to three hundred pounds. His small and weak wings are incapable of 

 carrying him through the air, but their flapping materially assists the action of his 

 legs, and serves to increase his swiftness when, flying over the plain, he " scorns the 

 horse and its rider." His feet appear hardly to touch the ground, and the length 

 between each stride is not unfrequently from twelve to fourteen feet, so that for a time 

 he might even outstrip a locomotive rushing along at full speed. 



Not only by his speed is the ostrich able to baffle many an enemy, the strength of 

 his legs also serves him as an excellent means of defence ; and many a panther or wild 

 dog coming within reach of his foot has had reason to repent of its temerity. But in 

 spite of the rapidity of his flight, during which he frequently flings large stones back- 

 wards with his foot, and in spite of his strength, he is frequently obliged to succumb 

 to man, who knows how to hunt him in various ways. Unsuspicious of evil, and 

 enjoying the full liberty of the desert, a troop of ostriches wanders through the plain, 

 the monotony of which is only relieved here and there by a clump of palms, a patch 

 of candelabra-shaped tree-euphorbias, or a vast and solitary baobab. Some leisurely 

 feed on the sprouts of the acacias, the hard dry leaves of the mimosas, or the prickly 

 naras, whose deep orange-colored pulp forms one of their favorite repasts; others 



