MACAW, name given to 15 or more species of large, long-tailed and strong flying parrots of gaudy coloring. They belong to the genus Am, and are natives of the West ern Hemisphere. They live on the mainland of America from Mexico to Paraguay, being es pecially abundant in Bolivia, where no fewer than seven (or nearly one-half) are found. They are also in Colombia and in Cuba. In the true macaws (Ara) the bony orbitical ring is complete and the bores (space between the eye and the upper mandible) and, to a greater or less extent, the cheeks are naked. One of the handsomest and 'best known is the Blue and Yellow Macaw (Am ararauxa), which enjoys an extensive range in South America from Guiana in the east to Colombia in the west and from Panama to Bolivia. A little over 30 inches long 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 long.tail are blue above and golden olive-yellow below. This bird is seen in almost every zoological garden and is often kept in private houses. It possesses a fairly good temper and grows much attached to those who tend it; but, like all other macaws, it persists in violent screaming. Salmon-fishers use its feathers for the making of artificial flies. Larger and even more gorgeously plumaged is the great Red and Blue Macaw (Ara 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 scar let, the two central ones scarcely tipped with blue, the blue tips increasing in extent on the outer feathers, the three outermost 'being almost exclusively blue. The home of the Red and Blue Macaw extends from Mexico, through Central America, to Bolivia, Guiana and the Amazon Valley. It is usually seen in pairs, or in companies of pairs. It is also a common bird in captivity, The Red and Green Macaw (Ara chloeoptera), ranging from Panama to Brazil, has a shorter tail than the other two and is not so frequently met with in zoological gardens. It does not extend north of Panama. It differs from the Red and Blue in being of a darker red, or crimson, and having the middle wing coverts olive-green instead of yellow. The Green Macaw (Ara milateris) Is green through out, except for the presence of a scarlet patch on the forehead and blue on back, rump, wings and tail. It is 27 inches long and ranges from Mexico to Peru and Bolivia,—the most northern of all in distribution. It is well known in captivity. Colonel Grayson and other writers explain that this macaw is called "guaca mayo)) by the natives of Mexico and Central America, because they believe that it descends to the ground only once a year, and this in the month of May, when it searches the ground for a very hard-shelled palm-nut of which it is fond. This rather surprising statement is prob
ably substantially true, as there seems no other reason why it should ever alight on the ground, where it would be exposed to much more dan ger than in the tree-tops, where it finds abun dant food the year round. The tree of this nut the Mexicans call Ava, a species of Nux vontica. Both the milky sap of the tree, as well as the fruit, are deadly poison to any other creature but this parrot. The shell is exceedingly hard, but the enormous bill and i powerful jaws of the Guacamayo enables it to split the nut with ease. When migrating to some distance these birds pass at a great height, flying in pairs and uttering harsh and discordant cries.
The Hyacinthine Macaw (Ara hyacinthus) of the central provinces of Brazil is a splendid bird. It is about three feet long, the plumage being nearly uniform cobalt blue, relieved by bright yellow skin about the eyes and at the base of the lower mandible and a black bill which is of enormous size. This appears to be a rare species, occurring, according to Riker, about the inland ponds in the dense forests of the interior, where it feeds chiefly upon the fruit of a palm peculiar to these localities. Some of these palm fruits are of extraordinary hard ness, but these birds crush them to pulp by their bills. The nesting habits of the Hya cinthine differ from those of other macaws in that they excavate a hole in the river bank for their nest instead of placing it in a hollow tree. In Spixi Macaw (Cynopsittacus Spixi), of the province of Bahia, Brazil, the lores are naked and the general color also blue; but parts of the head are more or less grayish.
All macaws live well in captivity and are often kept chained to a perch. Few persons are acquainted with their strong, wonderful and graceful flight. They all scream harshly. They are gregarious and apparently monogamous, and lay two lustreless white eggs in nests in hollow trees. One of their characteristics is a long and graduated tail with the individual feathers tapenng to a point and the middle pair always the longest. The bill is powerful and usually deeper than long. Consult Greene, William Thomas, ( Parrots in Captivity,' with notes (3 vols., London 1884-87) ; id., (Parrots in Captiv ity,' colored illustration (London 1884); Lear, Edward, of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots> (folio, London 1832) ; Page, Charles N., 'Parrots and Other Talking Birds: their Foods, Care and Training' (Des Moines 1906).