ILYA GIN THINE MACAW. 
63 
are fairly intelligent birds, and may be taugbt to speak, not only 
single words, but even short sentences: the specimen in our Zoological 
Gardens, for instance, always shouts out, when he sees us approaching 
him, “Come along, come along”, and occasionally, “Hollo there! give 
us a piece”, or words to that effect; so that, if we had accommodation 
for them, we should feel inclined to try some of them for breeding; 
but surrounded as we are by neighbours, most of whom have no sympathy 
with our ornithological pursuits, we feel that to attempt to keep any 
of these fine birds is simply impracticable, for they are so terribly 
noisy, that a summons or two to appear before the County Court 
Judge as a nuisance would be certain to greet us before long, and 
we have no desire thus to figure before the world; so we are fain to 
restrict our collection, and keep only the comparatively silent members 
of the Parrot race. 
Dr. Russ calls this bird the largest of them all (der grosste von alien), 
but it is much of a size with the Red and Yellow and the Yellow 
and Blue Macaws, although larger than the Military Macaw, and quite 
three times the size of the bird to which the name of Illiger was 
given by Burmeister. 
The beak of this species is truly, as Dr. Russ terms it, colossal, jet 
black, and appears calculated to give a formidable bite, but the creature 
that owns it, is, at least all the specimens of the species that we have 
known, extremely gentle, and may be freely handled, even by strangers, 
which is more than most of the Parrots will permit, speaking much 
for its intelligence and docility; it is a pity it is so seldom imported, 
but even in its own country it does not appear to be very common; 
another incentive to attempt breeding it in captivity. 
'1 he Hon. and Rev. F. G. Dutton’ s account of the Hyacinthine 
Macaw (Ara hyacinthina). 
The Hyacintbine Macaw deserves to head the list, not only of Macaws 
but of Parrots, for it is probably the biggest Parrot out. Its colour 
is a deep, puce blue, not so grey in tinge as the Glaucous Macaw, 
which is otherwise very like it in size and colour. It has only a very 
small yellow cere at the side of the beak, instead of the bare cheeks 
of the Red and Blue, and Blue aud Yellow Macaws. 
The Hyacinthine and Glaucous Macaws differ in a marked manner 
from the other Macaws, not only in the size of their beak and the 
portentious strength of their jaws (my Hyaciuthine easily bent the 
wires of one of Groom’s indestructible Macaw cages), but also in their 
disposition. Not that I have anything to say against the disposition 
