M. T. Padhury—Breeding the Blue-and-Yellow Macaw 221


the beak similar to the cock bird’s, red and yellow. The eggs are very

much like those of an Amherst Pheasant in colour and size.


After the young bird hatched out the hen chewed the nest box

almost to pieces and made a hole in the ground in the corner of the

house, over 1 foot deep and the young one was put in there, where

she kept it until it was about two months old. Now, four months

after hatching, the bird is entirely independent, and in vigorous health.


Before the Macaw went to nest they were exceptionally quiet

and I could handle and play with them as though they were kittens.

However, since they commenced to think of a family they have both

become so savage that I have to be very careful in getting into the

aviary to feed them and, I assure you, exceptionally careful when

retiring, so that I expose no unprotected parts.


Next year I propose sinking a small cask into the ground and filling

this with chips of wood and sawdust as it seems to me this type of nest

would suit the natural inclinations of the hen.


I trust that this account of an unusual hybrid will interest members.


[The above very interesting account is forwarded by Mr. G. Rowland

Hutchinson, Hon. Secretary of the Avicultural Society of New

Zealand.]


BREEDING THE BLUE-AND-YELLOW MACAW

IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA


By M. T. Padbury


About ten years ago I purchased in London two Blue-and-Yellow

Macaws (Ara ararauna ), said to be one year old, and sent them out to

Western Australia by boat in care of a man engaged to attend to them.

I have kept them in a roomy cage with a cement floor.


It was eight years before they laid any eggs. In November of 1929

the hen bird laid three eggs on the floor of the cage. Thinking the

cement would be too cold we gave her some straw which she pushed

away. We also gave her some sand. There w~as a period of four or five

days between the laying of the eggs, and she continually sat on them.

At the end of five weeks after the laying of the third egg we examined

them and found one fertile and two not so ; by this we knew the birds

were really a pair.



