BRASILIAN GREEN MACCAW. 
carry tbem to it's bill. The Parrots, therefore, 
employ their toes nearly as the Squirrels or 
Monkeys. They also cling and hang by them. 
The Green Ara almost always sleeps in this way, 
hooked to the wires of it's cage. I'hcre is also 
another habit common to the Parrots ; viz. they 
never climb, or creep, without fastening by the 
bill, wiih wh'cli they begin, and use the feet 
only as a second point of their motion. 
The nostrils are not visible in this Ara, as 
in most of tlie otlier P.-irrots. Instead of being 
placed in the uncovered part of the horn of .the 
bill, they are concealed in the first small fea- 
thers that cover tire base of the upper mandible, 
which rises and forms a cavity at it's root when 
the bird makes an effort to Imirate difl^.cuk 
sounds. In such cases, the tongue folds back at ' 
the tip, and recovers it's shape when it eats : a 
power not commonly possessed by birds which 
can only move it backwards or forwards in the 
diredlion of ilie bill. This little Green Avii is 
as liardy as most of the other Parrots, or even 
more so. It learns more easily to prattle, and 
pronounces much more distinclly, than the Red 
or Blue Aras. It listens to the other Parrots, 
and 
