This Maccaw was formerly pretty common at St. Domingo* i
but in proportion as that ifland has become more inhabited,
thefe birds are rarely met with. They moftly live in the moift
woods, efpecially thofe planted with a particular kind of palm -f-,
on which it feeds, and o f which there are large forefts in the
marfhy wet favannahs. They are oftener feen in pairs $ than in
greater numbers, and are fought after by the natives for food ;
but fometimes (aid to prove hurtful, having a ppifonous quality,
arifing from their being driven by hunger to feed on the Man-
chined apple, which on luch occafions does not prove in the lead
injurious to the bird. They make their nefts in decayed trees»
enlarging the hole with their bill, where it is not of a fize fuffi-
cient for the purpofe, lining the inlide with feathers. The.female
lays two eggs at a time, the fize of thofe of a Pigeon, and fpotted
like thofe of a Partridge. They breed twice/ in a year, and the
male and female fit on the neft alternately, as well as reciprocally
nude and feed the young birds. Thefe are tamed with great
eafe, but the old birds are quite indocile. It is faid that the
• Hiß. des oif voT. va. p. 183.
f Palmier latanier —perhaps what Is called the Maccaw tree. See Hughes Hiß.
Barbad. p. 1 14.—Rerafucjiabtilfcr. Linn. ?
1 Yet fometimes in vaft flights ; for in Anfords Voyage, after deferibing the
beauties of a fine water-fall at the north eaft point of the Ifle ol.Shtibo, “ while
we were viewing it,” fay? he, “ there came in fight a prodigious flight of Mac-
caws, which hovering over this fpot,' and Often wheeling and playing on the
wing about it, afforded a molt brilliant appearanee by the glittering of the fan
on their variegated plumage : fo that fome of the fpeftators cannot refrain from
a kind of tranfport when they recount the complicated beauties which occurred
in this extraordinary water-fall.” Anfm'sVoy. p. 218.
Maccaws
P A R R O T . 201
Maccaws in general do not learn to fpeak *, and that their voice
is particularly rough and difagreeable. The flelh is hard, black,
and unfavoury, but makbs good foup, and furnifhes a great part
of the food of the inhabitants of Cayenne, as well as other parts of
South America.
This fpecies, in common with other Parrots, is. fubjeft to fits
when kept tame j but, notwithftanding, will live many years,
though the returns be pretty frequent; yet at laft is obferved to
fall a viftim to this complaint rather than any other.
It is called in America by the name of Gonzalo f.
L’Ara de la Jamaïque, Brif. ont. iv. p. 1S8. N’ z.
Le petit ara rouge, Buf. oif. yi. p. 1S0.— PI. enl. 641.
Aracanga Marcgravii, Rais Syn. p. 29. N° 3.
Maccaw from Jamaica, Albitt. ii. t. 17.—Brown's Jamaica, p. 472.
The Maccaw, called Aracanga, Will. ont. p. i n .
Red and yellow Maccaw, Bancroft. Guian. p. 156.
fjpH E length of this bird is two feet eight inches and a half,
the tail itfelf being one foot eight inches and three quarters.
The bill is like that of the laft : irides luteous : noftrils placed in
a naked white (kin, at the bafe of the upper mandible : the
cheeks are white and naked : general colour of the plumage
fcarlet : rump pale blue: fcapulars luteous, tipped with green:
the eighteen firft quills are blue, with a (hade of violet, the
inner edge blackilh ; the others green, variegated with blue and
• This fpecies is faid to'fpeak very diftinftly, if inftrufted when young, but
naturally fqualls very much. Defer, dc Surinam, vol. ii. p. 173,
J- Scopol. Ann. Hiß. Hat. i. p. 27.
D I
RED AND
YELLOW
MACCAW.
D e s c r i p t io n .
purplilh