Of this bird I know only of two in the British Museum, one in Paris, one in Leyden, one in Liverpool. The specimen in the Paris Museum bears the inscription "Macrocercus tricolor (Bechst.) M. E. Rosseau. Cuba. Ménagerie 1842." Probably, however, there are more specimens in other museums.
Apparently the last specimen was shot in 1864 at La Vega (Bangs, Americ. Nat. XXXIX, p. 200).
Like all the extinct West Indian Macaws, Amazons and Conures, it became extinct through its persecution by the inhabitants for food.
Habitat: Formerly Cuba and Isle of Pines.
ARA GOSSEI ROTHSCH.
(Plate [11].)
Yellow-headed Macaw Gosse, Birds of Jamaica, p. 260 (1847).
Ara gossei Rothsch., Bull. B.O.C., XVI, p. 14 (1905); Proc. IV, Orn. Congr., p. 201 (1907).
Ara tricolor (non Bechstein) Clark, Auk 1905, p. 348.
Mr. Gosse's description is as follows:—"Basal half of upper mandible black; apical half, ash coloured; lower mandible, black, tip only ash coloured; forehead, crown, and back of neck, bright yellow; sides of face, around eyes, anterior and lateral parts of the neck, and back, a fine scarlet; wing coverts and breast deep sanguine red; winglet and primaries an elegant light blue. The legs and feet are said to have been black; the tail, red and yellow intermixed (Rob.)"
Mr. Gosse also remarks, "If this is not the tricolor of Le Vaillant, which is the only Macaw I am aware of marked with a yellow nape, it is probably new."