Part 10

Le Vaillant says, in his "Natural History of Parrots," that the Araras are stupid birds, which do not fear the hunter's gun; but we must say from our own experience that in the unfrequented woods of Brazil, where they are very numerous, these Macaws are amongst the slyest and most cunning of their race. While sitting upon a tree feeding, the whole party are quiet, or only utter a low sound, which somewhat resembles the murmur of human conversation; but during their flight, or when disturbed, their voices are loud enough. They shriek most wildly when the hunter steals upon them unobserved, and disturbs the unsuspecting company in the middle of their meal by a shot, and on such occasions often raise a deafening uproar. Their loud scream is very harsh; it consists but of one syllable, and somewhat resembles the cry of our ravens. Like all other parrots, these birds are much attached to their mates. "In April of the year 1788," says Azara, "Manuel Palomares, who was hunting about a mile from the city of Paraguay, shot an Arara, and tied it to the saddle of his horse. The mate of the dead bird followed the hunter to his home, which was in the centre of the town, and remained for several days upon the same spot; at last it allowed itself to be taken by hand and domesticated." "In pairing time," says the Prince von Wied, "the Araras endeavour to find the breeding place they have formerly occupied. The nest is always made in some large tree, that has either an open cavity or a hollow place, which they soon enlarge to the requisite size by the help of their strong beak. In this the female lays two white eggs, resembling those of most other parrots." Schomburghk tells us that the long tail of the parrot often proves fatal to the brood, by betraying the presence of its owner, as it hangs out of the hole in which the nest is situated. Azara assures us that the couple never leave the nest, dividing the care of it between them; and should any one approach, they testify the greatest uneasiness. The young do not cry out for food, but signify their wants by tapping at the sides of the tree. Like the nestlings of other parrots they are very ugly and helpless, and for some time after leaving the nest require the protection and care of their parents. The natives prefer taking them unfledged, as they are then very easily tamed. Caged Araras always seem to have been favourites with the Indians. "We saw with great interest," says Humboldt, "large Araras flying about tame in the Indian huts, as pigeons do with us; these birds are great ornaments to the Indian poultry-yard, and do not yield in beauty to the Peacock or Golden Pheasant."

It must, however, be rather dangerous to have Araras flying about in such close vicinity, if only on account of the undesirable use they often make of their formidable beaks, and yet in some instances they become very tame. An individual in the possession of the Prince von Wied had full liberty to fly about the apartments, but preferred being near its master. It allowed him to catch it, or to carry it on his hand about the room, and would stroke his cheeks in a blandishing manner with its dangerous bill.

This species never learns to speak as well as other parrots, but is nevertheless not quite deficient in the necessary talents. "My Arara," wrote Siedhof, "has shown a great facility for speech, imitating my magpie, which can talk very well. For more than four months after it came to me it was quite dumb, not even uttering its frightful cry. I therefore hung it where the magpie, which chattered incessantly, would be near it, and it had been exactly ten days there when it began to imitate its companion. Now it can call my children by name, and learns directly whatever it is taught. It has, however, one peculiarity, namely, that it usually only speaks when alone." The Scarlet Arara can endure captivity for many years; we have heard of one that was kept forty-four years in the same family. The Scarlet Macaw is sought after with equal zeal both by white men and natives; and the European sportsman rejoices when a well-directed shot puts him in possession of one of these magnificent birds. "Carefully," says the Prince von Wied, "and concealed by thick bushes or trees, the hunter creeps towards them, and sometimes brings down several at one shot. If wounded, the bird clings to the branches by its strong beak and claws, often hanging a long time in that position. Should the pursuer obtain the desired booty, it furnishes him with most agreeable food; the flesh is very like beef; that of the old birds is tough in winter, and often very fat; but when cooked it makes excellent soup. The beautiful feathers are used in many ways; every native who has killed a macaw decorates his head-dress with the brilliant red and blue plumage. The Brazilians make pens of the quills from the tail, and many savage tribes employ the other feathers as ornaments. The dark ones from the tail are selected to feather their arrows. Even at the present time many deck themselves with these magnificent plumes. Formerly the tribe of the Lingoes manufactured ornamental articles from these feathers, which they kept, until wanted for use, in boxes closed with wax. The Tapinambes on the eastern coast, when making a feast on the death or devouring of an enemy, began it in very festal array; the slayer of the deceased was rubbed with a certain kind of gum, and then thickly covered with small Arara feathers; on his head was a crown, formed of the tail of this beautiful bird."

THE SOLDIER ARARA.

The SOLDIER ARARA (_Ara militaris_), a magnificent bird, is not inferior in size to the species described above. The general colour of its plumage is bluish green; on the under side, and over the joints of the wings, this is mixed with brown; the cheeks are white, with several rows of small brown feathers; a narrow strip of blood-red feathers runs across the forehead; the wings are blue on the outer side, beneath they are of a greenish yellow, black at the edge; the prevailing colour of the tail is red, blue at the tip, and beneath greenish yellow; the outer feathers are blue on both sides; the beak and feet are black. This species is spread over the district near the upper part of the Amazon, and reaches northward as far as the United States.

THE ANAKAN.

The ANAKAN (_Ara severa_) is only 1 1/2 feet in length, its breadth 2 1/4 feet; the tail measures nine inches, and the wings ten inches. The Anakan is altogether more slenderly built than any of its congeners with which we are acquainted, and its colours are less brilliant. The plumage is usually green, shaded into blue on the top of the head; the forehead is reddish brown, the wings blue above and dull red beneath; the primaries blackish on the inner border, the secondaries green at the edge, blue at the tip, in the middle bluish crimson. The beak is black, grey at the tip; the cere and the bare cheeks, which seem to be covered with rows of small pointed black feathers, are of a yellowish flesh-colour, as are the eyes; the feet are black. The Prince von Wied found the Anakan, which is spread over all the tropical regions of America (the islands included), principally in the primitive forests, in the vicinity of rivers. It lives on the highest trees, and is often seen perched upon the branches, sometimes even in heavy storms of rain, which it willingly allows to soak its feathers. During the breeding season it lives in pairs, at other times in flocks.

The Anakans search the woods for fruit, and very often do great damage to the maize; their flight is astonishingly rapid, and their voice loud and harsh, but shriller and weaker than that of the large Araras. When a party of these birds is perched upon a tree, they utter soft, strange notes, as though talking together, the sound resembling the murmur of conversation. The male and female often sit in pairs on the high branches. The flesh of this bird is much esteemed, both by natives and Europeans, and, indeed, is excellent.

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In the Macaws we have been describing, the prevailing colour of the upper feathers is a more or less bright green; but in the following genera blue predominates.

THE ARARAUNA.

The ARARAUNA (_Ara Sittace Ararauna_) is a very well-known bird, not inferior to any of the preceding in magnificence. The body is somewhat smaller, the tail, on the contrary, longer, than in the Scarlet Macaw; it may be reckoned as thirty-seven inches long, of which quite twenty inches belong to the tail; the wing measures twenty inches from the shoulder to the tip. The eye is greenish white, the beak and shoulder black. The forehead, a great part of the tail, and also a ring round the throat, are green. This colour changes above into light blue, whilst the under side is of the colour of the yolk of an egg; the same is the case with the tail. The upper and under tail-covers are blue. The outer webs of the wings are darker, those of the inner webs almost black, but only on their upper surface, for the under side shades off into dull yellow; the same is the case with the tail-feathers. The lower part of the face is more darkly coloured than the upper throat; the chin is almost black, the bare cheeks are white, with three rows of blackish feathers.

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According to the statements of travellers, the habits of the Araraunæ are very similar to those of the Scarlet Macaw. The extent of country over which they are found is not exactly known. Schomburghk saw them sitting in considerable numbers on trees upon the banks of the Rio Takutu. They are seldom found on the eastern coast, and have long been driven from the inhabited districts.

THE HYACINTH-COLOURED ARARA.

The HYACINTH-COLOURED ARARA (_Anodorhynchus hyazinthinus_) has with great reason been regarded as the type of a peculiar race, for this bird differs from the rest of its family in the same way as the Nose Cockatoo differs from its fellows. The highly curved upper mandible is of considerable size, and much stronger than in other macaws, with a sloping, elongated hook at its extremity, which bends in the shape of a sickle over the under beak. The cheeks are thickly feathered, and only a small circle round the eyes and another round the under beak is bare. The plumage is of an uniform ultramarine, the crown, neck, wings, and tail are more darkly coloured than the throat, breast, and belly; in some lights it shimmers with pale sky blue. The wings on the lower side, the inner webs of the wing-feathers, and the under side of the tail, are pale black; the outermost wing-feathers sprinkled with black. The beak is of a brilliant black, the feet greyish black, and the eyes brownish black. The naked place near the eyes, and also a narrow featherless border around the beak, are dark yellow, lightly powdered. In size, this species is scarcely inferior to the Macaw; its length is thirty-eight inches, of which the tail measures twenty-two. The length of the wings is sixteen inches.

Little is known of the habits of the Hyacinth-coloured Arara; we learn that it is principally found in the river districts of Rio de Francisco, and from thence to the Amazon. These birds are not very numerous, and are constantly seen in pairs instead of flocks. In comparison with the rest of their family, they have little shyness, and their voices are seldom heard.

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We may consider the PARRAKEETS, or CONICAL-TAILED PARROTS (_Conurus_), although much smaller, as the next relations to the Araras, from which they are easily distinguished by the circumstance that their cheeks are feathered. Some have a bare circle round the eyes, whilst in the smaller kinds the feathers reach quite to the eyelids. The beak is comparatively strong, but short and broad; the cere is thickly feathered, and the nostrils, which are placed in the middle of the forehead, are surrounded with bristle-like feathers. The plumage is generally green, and relatively simple; still there are very magnificent species among them. Such an one is

THE GARUBA.

The GARUBA OF BRAZIL (_Conurus luteus_) is a splendid bird, of bright egg-yellow colour, only varied by the green and black upon the wings and tail. The head and wings are usually of a brighter colour than the rest of the body; the wings are externally green, tipped and bordered with black; the beak greyish horn yellow; the foot flesh-coloured, varied with grey; the narrow bare places round the eyes whitish; the eyes are dark orange. Its length is fourteen and a half inches, six inches of which belong to the tail. The length of the wings is about the same. The north of Brazil, particularly the country near the Amazon, is the principal habitat of the Garuba, but nowhere is it found in great numbers.

THE TIRIBA.

The TIRIBA (_Conurus leucotis_), a bird only nine inches long, four inches of which must be reckoned for the tail, is certainly the most elegant and charming of all parrakeets. The crown is brown, and shines with a metallic bluish green lustre; the rim round the forehead, the cheek-stripes, the cheeks, and the throat, are cherry colour. The part near the ear is white; the neck, rump, and wings dark green; the point of the tail and the middle of the belly, as well as the wings near the shoulder, are red; the breast is olive green; and the feathers on the upper part of the neck are indicated by a black-edged stripe, prettily marked. The wings are externally bluish green, and black within. The tail is green, the upper part touched with cherry colour, and the lower part with blood red; the horn-grey beak terminates in a white point. The feet are dark ash grey, and the eye-rings orange; the narrow bare place around the eyes is blackish. The female is somewhat smaller than the male, from whom she differs but little in colour. In the young birds the tints are paler, and the feathers only slightly marked.

The Tiriba is met with in many parts of the eastern coast of Brazil; these birds abound in forests, and particularly in such as have not been cleared; they are also found in great numbers on the sea-coast, and at no great distance from human habitations. Except in pairing time, they are always in large flocks, and if disturbed dart like arrows from the tops of the trees, shrieking loudly. They climb very dextrously, employing the beak freely, and carefully guarding their long tail from being injured by the branches. It is very difficult for the sportsman to distinguish them in their haunts, on account of their green colour, and if they fear danger they will remain perfectly motionless and quiet. It is only when flying that they raise their voices loudly and repeatedly. When there are plantations near the woods, they will, like other parrots, do considerable damage, but are less destructive to maize than to rice. After breeding time they appear more numerously on the outskirts of the woods, accompanied by their young, whom they feed out of their crops until they have nearly attained their full size.

The nest is built in the hollow of a tree, and contains from two to three white eggs. Some species, according to Schomburghk, are favourites with the Indians, so that we often find whole flocks of tame parrakeets near their settlements. The Brazilians generally place them on a stick, which they fasten to the outside of their houses, fixing one end into the plaster wall.

THE CAROLINA PARRAKEET.

The CAROLINA PARRAKEET (_Conurus Carolinensis_) is the only parrot found in North America. Its length is from ten to twelve inches, and the wing seven inches; the prevailing colour of the plumage is a pleasing green, darker on the back, and somewhat yellowish on the under part; the forehead and cheeks are reddish orange, as are likewise the back of the head, shoulders, and wings. The neck is of a pure gold colour; the large wing-covers olive-green, with yellow tips; the primary quills deep purplish black; and the middle tail-covers near the shaft blue. The female is of a paler colour than the male, and in the young the forehead is of an uniform green.

The Carolina Parrakeets are found as far as forty-two degrees north latitude, and seem to be capable of enduring very severe weather, for Wilson tells us that he saw a flock of them fly screaming along the banks of the Ohio, during a snow-storm in February. Solitary individuals are sometimes met with still farther north, even as far as Albany; but these are only such as have lost their way. The favourite haunts of these birds are districts overgrown with a weed called wrinkled burdock, the seeds of which they obtain in spite of its armature of strong thorns; they often invade plantations in great numbers, and do much damage, destroying far more than they eat, and are therefore bitterly hated by the owners, and actively pursued.

We have full particulars of their life and habits from Wilson, Audubon, and the Prince von Wied. "The Carolina Parrakeet," says Audubon, "eats or destroys all kinds of fruit, and is on this account most unwelcome to the planter, the countryman, or the gardener. The stacks of corn in the fields are often visited by large flocks, which hide them so completely that they present the appearance of being covered with a brilliantly coloured carpet; the birds hang round the stacks, draw out the straws, and destroy twice as much of the corn as is necessary to satisfy their hunger. They come in crowds to assail the fruit trees in a garden, pluck the fruits, bite them open and take out the soft and milky kernel, proceeding industriously from branch to branch, until the tree that had looked so promising is entirely stripped. It is easy to understand that these attacks upon their property are avenged by the planters, and that regular war is waged against the Parrakeets. Ten or twenty of them often fall at one shot, but the survivors always come back to the same place, so that many hundreds are killed in the course of a few hours." The "Carolina Parrakeet," says Wilson, "is a very sociable creature. Should one of a flock be wounded, the rest instantly return to it, uttering loud anxious cries, as they settle on the nearest tree. After repeated shots they will not alter their behaviour, but come nearer and nearer to the fallen bird, and fly around it with plaintive screams."

It would be hard to find a greater contrast than is noticeable between the rapid flight of the Carolina Parrakeets and their lame, helpless movements when on the branches of trees, and still more when on the ground. They fly in closely-packed masses, rushing along with loud resounding cries, generally in a direct line, sometimes in graceful curves, which they seem often to vary for their own amusement. Their favourite trees are sycamores and plantains, in the hollows of which they find a resting-place, and hang to the bark like woodpeckers, clinging by the beak and claws. They sleep a good deal, retiring many times in the day to their holes to take a nap. They eat salt readily, and for this reason are always to be found in great numbers near salt works. Wilson gives us the following information concerning a Carolina Parrakeet that he tried to keep:--"As I was anxious to learn whether this parrot would allow itself to be easily tamed, I took one under my care that had been slightly wounded in the wing. I prepared for him a kind of bower at the stern of my boat, and threw him burdocks, which he continued to eat from the time he came on board. The first day was pretty equally divided between eating and sleeping, and at times he gnawed the bars of his cage. When I left the river and travelled by land I carried my prisoner with me in a silk handkerchief, disregarding all the difficulties which such an undertaking must involve. The road was bad beyond description; there were dangerous rivers and lakes to swim across, whole miles of morass and thicket to encounter, and other hindrances to overcome; many times the parrot came out of my pocket, and I was compelled to dismount to seek for it amongst the brushwood. When we encamped in forests I placed it on my little bundle near me, and took it up again in the morning, carrying it in this manner more than a thousand miles. As soon as I reached the hunting-ground of the Chickasaws I was surrounded by these people--men, women, and children--who regarded my companion with great astonishment and loud laughter, calling it in their language 'Kelinky;' indeed, Polly was ever after a bond of friendship between us. When I reached my friend Dunbar's house I procured a cage, and placed it in the verandah; from whence my captive used to call to the flights of Parrakeets that sped over the place, and day by day we had numerous troops of them hovering about, keeping up a lively conversation. One whose wing was slightly wounded I placed in Polly's cage, to the great delight of the little solitary, who approached it instantly, and whispered her sympathy at its accident, stroked its neck and head with her beak, and took it to her heart at once. The new comer died, and Polly was for many days inconsolable and restless. I then placed a looking-glass near to the place where she usually sat. My ruse succeeded, her happiness was restored, and for a time she was beside herself with joy. It was quite touching to see her, as evening approached, laying her head on the image in the glass, and testifying her happiness by a gentle note. After some time she learned her name, and answered to it; she would climb up my body, perch on my shoulder, and take bits from my mouth: there is no doubt that I could have succeeded in training her, had not an unlucky accident caused her death; she left her cage one morning before I rose, and was drowned in the Gulf of Mexico."

The Prince von Wied substantiates the preceding account; he found these Parrakeets in the early spring in enormous numbers near the Mississippi, and they have been also seen near the Lower Missouri, but never towards the upper part of that river. The Indians in the neighbourhood of Fort Union wear the skins of these birds as ornaments on their heads.

THE CHOROY.

The CHOROY of the Chilians (_Enicognathis leptorhynchus_) is well deserving of notice, on account of the peculiar shape of its beak. There is nothing particularly striking in the plumage, which is of a nearly uniform dark green, blueish on the wings, their tips being spotted with black; the tail-feathers are brownish, and blood red at the tip. The bird is green above, with a red streak upon the brow, red cheek-stripes, and a few insignificant dark bands on the top of the head, which are visible through the points of the corresponding feathers; the lower part of the body is green, with red spots between the thighs, larger in the male than in the female. Its length is about fourteen inches, six and a half of which belong to the tail. The Choroy reminds us of the Long-beaked Cockatoo, on account of its prominent and elongated upper mandible, and we are told that its habits are similar. These birds congregate in troops of many hundreds, and the noise they make is almost deafening. They are most destructive to maize and wheat fields, and also to apple-trees, the fruit of which they gather only for the sake of the pips. This species is found over large tracts of the Pampas, and is rather a ground than a tree bird.

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THE LONG-TAILED PARROTS, OR PARRAKEETS.