Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS

THE PARROTS

In the true Macaws

(Ara) so called, the bony orbital ring is complete, and the lores, and to a greater or less extent the cheeks, are naked. There are fifteen recognized species, which range from Mexico to South America as far as Bolivia and Paraguay, most of them being extremely brilliant in coloration, though the colors are often violently contrasted. Thus one of the handsomest and best-known is the Blue-and-yellow Macaw (A. ararauna), which enjoys an extensive range in tropical America, from Panama to Bolivia and Guiana. A little over thirty inches in length, it has the upper parts blue, the forehead olive-green, and the ear-coverts, sides of neck, breast, and abdomen yellow-orange, while the wings and tail are blue above and golden olive-yellow below. This species, and the next as well, is frequently seen in zoological gardens and menageries, where if properly cared for it may live for years.

It is possessed of a fairly good temper and becomes much attached to its attendant, though it, and in fact all Macaws in captivity, often persists in violent screaming. Larger and even more gorgeously plumaged is the great Red-and-blue Macaw (A. macao), which is mainly scarlet-red both above and below, but with the back and upper and lower tail-coverts pale blue, as are the wing-quills, while the shoulders and greater coverts are chrome-yellow; the tail-feathers are scarlet, the two central ones scarcely tipped with blue, the blue tips increasing in extent on the outer'feathers, the three outermost being almost wholly of this color.

The home of this bird extends from Mexico, through Central America to Bolivia, Guiana, and the Amazon Valley, being in many localities a very common species and seen usually in pairs or companies of pairs. Another species of somewhat similar coloration is the Red-and-green Macaw (A. chloroptera), which differs mainly in being of darker red or crimson and in having the middle wing-coverts olive-green instead of yellow; it has much the same range as the last except that it does not extend north of Panama. A majority of the species of the genus have the general color green, one of the best-known of this type being the Green Macaw (A. mili-taris), which is green throughout except for the presence of a scarlet patch on the forehead and blue on back, rump, wings, and tail. It is smaller than those already mentioned, attaining a length of but twenty-seven inches, and is one of the most northern in distribution, ranging from Mexico to Peru and Bolivia.

Although this and several of the others are fairly well known in captivity, but little appears to have been recorded of them in a state of nature, and we are fortunate in having a full account of this species by Colonel Grayson, from whom we quote. This magnificent species, he tells us, is fairly common in many portions of western Mexico, being found only in the belt of land which lies between the seacoast and the Cordilleras, though often extending to a height of three or four thousand feet on the mountains. Here it migrates from one locality to another in quest of food suited to its taste, but never crossing the principal chain to the eastward.”

 

 

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