The Hiftory of ANIMALS, 369 
The legs are fhort, but they are lefs robuft than in many other fpecies: the toes are 
{lender, and of a bluifh colour, and the claws are long and black : the whole bird has a 
more delicate appearance than almoft any other of the Parrot-kind •, it {lands more 
eredl, and holds it’s head in a {lately and elegant manner. 
* 4 
This fpecies is frequent in the woods of almoft all parts of South America, but it 
has never been brought alive into England. Sir Hans Sloane has a fluffed one, and I 
believe it is the only fpecimen in Europe. Marcgrave and Pifo have defcribed it but 
imperfectly. 
Pfittacus virefcens capite nigro cceruleo et flavo variegato. 
The green Pfittacus , with the head variegated with blue y blacky and 
This is another of the elegant fpecies known only in South America; it is of the 
bignefs of a common pigeon : the head is large and round, and is clofe covered with 
fhort feathers, which the bird frequently raifes into an almoft eredt pofition, and by 
that means makes it appear much larger : the beak is large, very hooked, and of a 
dufky brown colour: the upper chap is much longer than the under, and the extre¬ 
mity of it, which hangs over the other, is quite black : the bafe is covered with a 
thick and wrinkled bluifti membrane, and in this are fttuated the noftrils; they are 
large, and {land but at a fmali diftance from one another: the tongue is thick, flefhy, 
and black : the eyes are moderately large, and very piercing ; they are yellow in the 
iris, and the pupil is black. 
The ground colour of the head is green, but the crown is ornamented with a large 
fpot of a mixed blue and black colour, and in the center of this there is a fpot fo yel¬ 
low : the fides of the head below the eyes have alfo a great deal of yellow, and the 
throat is of the fame beautiful gold colour, but in the midft of it there is a large and 
elegant fpot of blue. 
The hinder part of the neck, the back, the wings, and the rump, are all of a fine 
ftrong grafs-green ; the breaft and belly are of an elegant green, but paler : the wings 
toward their lower part alfo are paler, as is alfo the tail 5 but the extremities of the 
long feathers in the wings are beautifully variegated with yellow, a ftrong crim- 
fon, and a deep blue: the tail is but fhort, and, though folely green on the upper part, 
it is variegated with green and yellow on the under. 
The legs are fhort and robuft; the toes are moderately long; the claws are very 
long and (harp, but they are not thick ; they are of a glofiy black. 
This is a native of the Brafils, and of the woods about the gold mines of Peru* 
Marcgrave and Pifo have defcribed it 5 they have only given it’s Brafilian name Ajuru- 
curuca; and Ray, Willughby, and other of the modern ornithologifts, have cafually 
mentioned it only under the fame name j we have had two or three very weli-prderved 
fpecimens of it lately in England. 
Pfittacus niger peElore rubro. 
The black PjittacuSy with a fcarlet breaft. 
This is an extreamly fingular bird ; it’s form, and the ftrudlure of it’s beak and feet, 
fufticiently aiftinguifh it to be a Parrot, though it’s colours, fo different from thofe of 
the generality of thofe birds, would induce a perfon not fo well acquainted with this 
part of natural hiftory, at firft fight, to doubt it: the head is moderately large and 
round, and is thick, covered with fhort and broad feathers, which it can eredt at 
pleaiure, and make it look much larger; the beak is large, only prominent or convex 
on the upper fide ; the hooked part of the upper chap hangs a good way over the 
extremity of the under, and the whole of a dufky grey colour: it is covered at the 
bafe by a brownifh membrane, with a tinge of blue, and in this ftand the noftrils; 
they are fttuated very near one another, juft at the bafe of the beak, almoft under the 
front leathers of the head : the eyes are very {harp and piercing, but not very large; 
their iris is of a bright gold yellow, and the pupil black, 
5 b 1 
The 
