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.
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.
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.