Psittacus macao, L.

Red and Blue Macaw (Ger., Arakanga, hellbrother Arara, schar-lachrother Arara, grosser gelbflugeliger Arara, Makao; Fr., Ara rouge, Ara Macao; Dut., Groote Geelvleugel Ara) - Anciently known - Destructiveness - Description - Domestic Character.

This species was described by Gessner in 1557, and by Aldro-vandi in 1599, and is amongst the best known, both with regard to its habits in freedom and its life in captivity. Alexander von Hamboldt, Schomburgk, and Arthur Schott may be named among travellers who have observed it. According to them all the general facts descriptive of the life of the macaw in freedom apply especially to this species. The settlers shoot these macaws without mercy, on account of the damage they do to the maize and other crops; the natives pursue them unceasingly for the sake of their brilliant plumage, but their flesh is of little value. A tree in which the nest is built passes among the Indians as an inheritance from father to son, and is inhabited by the birds annually, though the nest is always robbed. The macaws imported belong, almost without exception, to these young hand-reared birds, and are, consequently, tame when they arrive, and capable of further training.

The Red and Blue Macaw is scarlet on the top and sides of the head; the hinder part of the back, the rump, and the upper coverts of the tail, are sky-blue; the quills and their coverts blue, blackish on the inner web; the larger upper coverts of the wings, together with the long shoulder feathers, are orange-yellow, with a green spot at the tip; the bend of the wing blue; ail the upper part of the body scarlet; the tail feathers sky-blue at the tip, the two outermost all blue; then this colour gradually decreases, so that on the two centre feathers it only appears as a little spot; all the reverse side is also scarlet, only the under covert of the tail is blue; the upper mandible is horn-coloured greyish-white, with a black spot at the base; the under mandible black; the eyes yellowish-white; the featherless cheeks whitish-flesh coloured; the feet blackish-grey, with black claws. In size it is almost as large as a domestic cock (length, 39 3/8in.; wings, 14 7/8in. to 16 1/2in.; tail, 191/2in. to 24 5/8in.). It is a native of northerly South America, Bolivia, North Brazil, Guatemala, and Honduras, and is found also in Mexico and Peru.

Bechstein gives full details of its life in captivity, but states only those facts which I have already mentioned in my introduction. This macaw is splendid to look at, can be accustomed to fly in and out of the house, is said to be very amenable to training, and learns to repeat words exceedingly well; nevertheless, it not unfrequently proves very vicious, so that children should on no account be left in the room alone with it. More recent observation of it has disclosed nothing new. The Red and Blue Macaw is one of the commonest objects in zoological gardens. According to Dr. Max Schmidt, one in the Garden at Frankfort-on-the-Maine lived more than twenty years. It is to be found in almost every bird show. A Red and Blue Macaw, shown by one Mr. Czarnikow in the Ornis Exhibition in Berlin in 1879, was in splendid plumage, uncommonly tame and affectionate, and was said to know more than one hundred words.