The plumage of the Long-tailed Parrots is very varied, still it never possesses the softness and gloss observable in the coat of the Lory. A tuft-like prolongation of the feathers is rarely but occasionally met with. It is, however, impossible to describe the plumage of this group in general terms; suffice it to say, that the hues we have mentioned as employed in the coloration of other parrots, also predominate in their feathers. The Long-tailed Parrots may be considered as the type of their order, inhabiting, as they do, all the various countries in which the race is found.
THE ARARAS.
Amongst the Long-tailed Parrots, the Araras (Aræ) are easily distinguished by their unusually large beak, furnished with a smooth broad summit. The lower mandible is very short, and incised or obliquely cut, without any ridge upon the chin, and having its base entirely covered by a cere. The cheeks are broad and naked, but sometimes covered with small feathers arranged in rows; the tarsus is thick, strong, and short; the toes long, and furnished with large strongly bent claws; the wings are long and pointed, and reach far down the tail, which is longer than the body. The plumage is very thick.
The members of this very conspicuous group are almost exclusively confined to the eastern parts of South America, where they inhabit the primitive forests, far from man and the turmoil of the world. Unlike other parrots, they live in little companies, which very rarely unite to form a flock. They feed principally upon fruit, are comparatively quiet, and although they exhibit but little vivacity, are as intelligent as the rest of their race.
THE SCARLET MACAW (Ara Macao).
This species is about 2-3/4 feet long, of which more than 1 foot belongs to the tail; the stretch of its wings is about 3-3/4 feet. The plumage is magnificent and very brightly coloured. The head, neck, breast, and belly are scarlet; the feathers of the neck and upper part of the back have a greenish edge, which becomes broader lower down. The middle and lower regions of the back, the rump, and under tail-covers are a beautiful sky blue; the upper feathers of the wings are scarlet; the middle, hinder, under, and shoulder feathers green, the latter shaded with red; the front wing-covers are ultramarine on the outer web, and on the inner pale red. The same is the case with the inner wing-covers; the middle tail-feathers are more or less red, the inner web of the quills black. On the naked flesh-coloured cheeks, which look as though powdered with white flour, are five or six rows of little pencil-shaped red feathers, implanted near the nostrils, and ranged around the eyes; the beak is of a clear horn colour, black at the point and edge, as is the lower mandible; the eyes are yellowish white, the feet blackish grey, the claws brownish black. The two sexes are alike in colour, the young birds more delicately tinted than the old ones. In the variety of this bird represented in the frontispiece to Part I., the colours are somewhat different.
The principal portion of the plumage is bright scarlet, the quill-feathers of the wings fine blue, the greater wing-coverts yellow, tinged with green, the upper and under tail-coverts blue, the two middle feathers of the tail crimson, and the remainder of the tail-feathers, which gradually decrease in length towards the sides, are partly red and partly blue; the feet are dusky black, the naked skin of the cheeks wrinkled and white, the upper mandible whitish, and the lower one black or dusky.
The Macaw was formerly to be found in the immediate neighbourhood of such large cities as Rio de Janeiro, &c., but it has long since left the inhabited part of the country. Flat, well-watered, primitive forests appear to be its favourite haunts; it will not ascend mountains, but in high, parched districts, burnt up by the heat of the sun, or in the rocky, wild parts of Bahia, its cry is constantly to be heard. "Whilst we were upon the rivers that irrigate the woods upon the coast," says the Prince von Wied, "we saw this proud red bird, and recognised it at once by its voice, size, and streaming tail, as it slowly beat the air with its long large wings, and steered its course through the blue air." "The habits of this beautiful bird," continues the same author, "resemble those of other parrots. At noon we generally saw them sitting quietly upon the strong under-branches of a large tree, the neck drawn in, and the long tail hanging straight down. Except during pairing time, they fly in small companies in search of different kinds of fruits, especially those of various species of palms, on the hard shells of which they are very fond of trying their powerful beaks. Notwithstanding the noise they usually make, like other species of parrots they become at once perfectly silent so soon as they have found a tree laden with suitable produce, and when they settle upon it, their presence is only indicated by the fall of the husks, which they bite off and throw down. During the cold season of the year we often found them busily seeking out the fruit of a creeping plant called sphinha; they climb up its tangled stems very adroitly, and it is then easier to shoot them than under other circumstances. Their crops were quite full of the white seeds of this plant; at other times we found their beaks dyed blue by some species of fruit that they had eaten."