Chapter 5 - Macaws

Macaws have notably large beaks and long tails, and certain kinds—since vanished—used to inhabit the Antilles Islands. Nowadays they are only found in the tropical parts of America where they frequent the forests and, unlike many members of the parrot family, go about in pairs rather than flocks.

Despite their tropical habitat they are hardy birds in captivity, when once acclimatized, as well as being easy to feed and very long-lived.

Three species of macaw, the Blue and Yellow, the Red and Blue, and the Red and Yellow, are much better-known to the general public than any of the others. This is because they are the biggest, noisiest and gaudiest exhibits in the parrot section of any zoo, and when the large collection of them in the parrot house at Regent's Park, London, really gets going, the noise is completely deafening. Sometimes the din is added to by the angry, screeching protests of those that are having their long tails pulled by the more moronic members of the public—idiots who richly deserve to be given a taste they will never forget of the terrific power of a macaw's beak.

Their names describe their appearances, and all are huge, brilliantly coloured birds roughly 3 feet in length, the Red and Yellow being the largest of the three. Equally large, and with a really gigantic beak, is the beautiful and less gaudy Hyacinthine Macaw, which is of a deep rich hyacinth blue.

There are a number of smaller and less conspicuous members of the family (the smallest of which is the seldom-imported Hahn's Macaw whose total length is only 13 inches), and some of these can be housed in a parrot-cage of sufficient size.

Unfortunately no ordinary parrot-cage is large enough to house the best-known and largest species, consequently they are usually kept chained by one leg to a "macaw stand'* of a kind which must be familiar to anyone who has visited a pet shop or a zoo. While such a contraption permits them to flap their wings and take a certain amount of exercise, I dislike the idea of any bird, particularly an active one such as a macaw, being kept permanently chained up in this fashion, just as a dog should not be permanently kept on a lead. There is no point in keeping a pet macaw unless it is really tame and affectionate, and unless you return its affection. The chain, therefore, should merely be regarded as a means of keeping the bird out of mischief and preventing it wandering about the room and chewing up the furniture when it has to be left by itself. As often as possible when you are with it, the chain should be removed and you should talk to and make a fuss of it, and let it climb about unfettered on its stand, or on your arm or shoulder. If both you and your bird do not mutually derive pleasure from this, the latter would be far better off under other, kindlier and more sympathetic ownership.

There are, of course, other ways of keeping macaws, which are perhaps worth mentioning here, but the trouble is their costliness. Most birds can be provided fairly cheaply with an aviary of moderate size, but in the case of macaws even a small aviary for them is expensive, as the terrific strength of their beaks makes it hopeless to try to keep them in any ordinary aviary made of wood and wire-netting. Brick, metal, asbestos or concrete have to be used instead of wood, and chain-link is the most suitable form of netting. 1 have, however, a pair of Red and Yellow Macaws that are temporarily housed in a large indoor cage measuring 5 feet long by 6 feet high by 2 feet wide, and the framework of this consists of wood entirely enclosed in sheet zinc, while the cage itself is of a very stout (pre-war) gauge inch-mesh netting which so far they show no signs of biting through.

As well as keeping them at complete liberty (of which I append an interesting account at the end of this introductory chapter) they have also been successfully kept, with clipped wings, in roofless outdoor enclosures with precautions taken to prevent their climbing out, but in which they can take plenty of exercise by clambering about the tree stumps and branches with which it should be furnished. Incidentally I know of one case in which Roseate Cockatoos were not only kept, but were actually bred successfully under similar conditions and the same might well be possible with macaws.

Before returning to the subject of keeping a single macaw as a pet, I think it is of interest to mention that—given suitable accommodation—macaws are quite willing to go to nest in confinement, and have been successfully bred on several occasions in this and other countries, chiefly perhaps California.

I have referred already to the terrific power of a macaw's beak, and I think I must stress this again as people are sometimes very foolish—or foolhardy—in the way in which they take liberties with a perfectly strange macaw, such as attempting to scratch its head. The bird may enjoy having its head scratched by its owner but, being a highly intelligent creature, it may intensely resent any such familiarity from a stranger. Some idea of the danger of lightly making advances to a strange macaw can be realized from the fact that a savage untamed Red and Yellow is reliably reported to have actually killed a bull terrier after a terrific struggle in which both its wings were broken.

A really tame macaw is a charmingly affectionate and gentle creature to its owner, and often to its owner's friends as well, provided they remember two golden rules. They must be properly introduced, and must on no account make any sudden or hurried movements, which are liable to frighten the bird and make it bite, simply through fear.

A macaw must never be teased or it is liable to turn savage and will be quite ruined as a pet. Unfortunately a macaw on a stand presents a considerable temptation to children. What more delightful to the childish mind than to pull the end of its long tail, and make it squawk, then run away before it has a chance to retaliate? No bird can be expected to put up with such treatment for long, so anybody possessing a tame macaw as well as young children should make certain that the bird's tail is permanently out of their reach. Some children of course are, from earliest childhood, naturally kind to animals and birds, but many are not, and it is against these that one has to guard.

All birds need a bath of some kind and as the average macaw on a stand hardly ever gets one, its plumage suffers accordingly. Either the bird can be put out on its stand in a shower (not a deluge) of rain or else it can be periodically sprayed with rainwater. This they so much appreciate and look forward to that one quite looks forward to the operation oneself. The instrument used must give a fine misty spray, and the birds will soon get to know its appearance so well that they will start spreading their wings and ruffling and shaking their feathers as though they are already wet through before one has even started! My pair of Red and Yellow Macaws, which are housed indoors until their aviary is ready for them, quickly got to know the small pressure-sprayer I use, and get into a great state of excitement as soon as they see me pick it up. Their cries of joy while being sprayed are absolutely deafening and the general air of pandemonium is increased by the constant flapping of their wings. They like getting wet under the wings, and to ensure this the male will often hold his wings quite still and fully spread as a cormorant sometimes does, while the female goes on flapping wildly beside him. The remarkable and swift improvement in their plumage makes the small amount of trouble entailed in spraying them well worthwhile.

Macaws should be fed chiefly on sunflower seed and monkey-nuts to which may be added a little wheat, groats, oats, and canary, as well as a small quantity of maize and hemp. Brazil nuts would remind them of home, and the larger species, at any rate, deal with them as easily as a zebra finch shucks millet! They are not a necessity, of course, but an occasional one would not only provide nourishment for the bird but healthful exercise for its beak as well. Fruit such as sweet ripe apple should be given regularly, and they also enjoy the midribs of seakale-beet, or ordinary spinach-beet, as green-foods.

Young macaws appreciate a little sweetened bread and milk daily, and as an addition to their usual diet I make a practice of giving this twice a week to adult specimens as well.

To sum up: a pet macaw should be enabled to take plenty of exercise; should not be kept in too hot a room; should be regularly given something to amuse it and exercise its beak on—such as an empty cotton-reel—and should receive a great deal of attention and affection from its owner. This, after all, it only a just and reciprocal arrangement, and. if there is no affection between a bird and its owner the sooner they are parted the better.

Only a handful of people have ever tried the interesting experiment of keeping macaws at liberty, and among these is the Dowager Marchioness of Londonderry.

I remembered that many years ago Lady Londonderry told me of a couple she kept at liberty at her home, Mount Stewart in Northern Ireland, so I wrote asking if she would be kind enough to give me some details for inclusion in this book. Here is her reply:

It is quite true that we have had macaws quite at liberty here for a good many years now, though at the moment I have only got one which has been so severely pinioned that he never will be able to fly. I originally had two, a red and blue one and a blue and yellow one, and they were in a rough sort of aviary which could be moved, before they were let out.

The gardens were always opened in those days to visitors in aid of charities, but the red bird, after he was let out, became very wicked and used to chase the people, so that I asked the London Zoo to accept him and after a time they asked me to have him back as he was so unhappy. But as I was unable to do this, he was sent to Whipsnade where he completely recovered and became a great pet and I understand only died last year. I then tried to get another blue and yellow bird to make a pair with the one I already had, but, as you know, it is almost impossible to ascertain the sex of these macaws and I think the two I had were both hens. These birds lived in the same rough aviary just outside the back door but they hardly ever used it and went up into a large beech tree in which I eventually put a barrel with a hole.

One of my daughters, now Lady Jessel, was given another blue and yellow one which was called Joey, but obviously it was a hen as it took to going into the barrel and on three separate occasions laid a lot of eggs but nothing happened. These three macaws never came into the house at all and they used to have small flights round the house in the morning and again in the evening. They appear to be extremely hardy but one very bad winter when it rained for six weeks without stopping we had to get hold of them as they could not move their wings. Two of these eventually died, I think of old age. After the wet spell we had them in the house in the winter and they resumed their out-of-door habits during the summer. The one called Joey, whose name was changed to Polly after the egg-laying episode, lived until last year. It was an amazing bird because its sleeping quarters were permanently in the house and it was a regular visitor to the pantry and every morning used to fly out on to its favourite beech tree and back again that evening. She really was very tame and obviously was a female, as she preferred your sex to mine.

The one I have now I think is a cock bird. It is very devoted to me and I take him out and he sits on a garden seat, which he loves pulling to pieces, and as it is rotten it keeps him occupied. I am sure they would breed here if we could only get a proper pair. They did breed them at Oundle in Northamptonshire and they were flying about there in the open. I think they would be very destructive in a small garden but they could not do any real damage here to the two very old beech trees which they took as their own, though they did take off a great many branches. They used to look very beautiful out on their morning and evening flights but they are not graceful on the wing in anyway.

My daughter, Lady Bury, has a lot of birds here including budgerigars. In fact they were breeding so much that we thought we would try the experiment of letting them fly loose. One she has given to the lodge keeper here, over a quarter of a mile away, frequently comes back to the aviary and then returns. She has also got a pair, or what was meant to be a pair, of the Alexandria Parrakeets. One of them is delightfully tame.

Blue And Yellow Macaw (Ara ararauna)

Every zoo visitor must be familiar with this gorgeous bird which is said to make one of the best talkers among the macaws.

It is of a rich sky blue, darkest on the wings and tail, with the sides of the neck, under wing-coverts, and the whole of the breast yellow. The throat is dusky blackish edged with grayish-green feathers. The naked skin of the cheeks— which can blush when the bird is excited! —is adorned with some black feathers forming stripes. The bill is black.

So far as I am aware there is no difference in the plumage of the sexes.

Total length: 31 inches.

Habitat: tropical America from Panama to Guiana.

This is one of the large macaws, which is so often seen chained to a parrot stand by one leg that it probably never occurs to most members of the general public that it could be kept in any other way. Nor could it by most people, unless they are prepared to have a particularly large and extremely strong cage made to accommodate it. Nevertheless, if both the space and the cash are available, a pair make barbarically decorative aviary birds which, despite their exotic appearance, are extremely hardy and quite willing to go to nest under suitable conditions. The species has just been bred successfully in Great Britain for the first time, and in the early years of the last century a pair are said to have nested freely in France, rearing altogether no fewer than fifteen young ones, which shows how prolific these macaws can prove if a well-matched pair are obtained and treated and housed in a manner that gives them every encouragement to reproduce their kind.

Hybrids between this species and the Red and Yellow Macaw have been bred in Germany, at Dresden.

Glaucous Macaw (Anodorhyncus glaucus)

The feathers are slaty-blue, brightest on the rump. There is a patch of yellow skin on the cheek and the bill is black.

Total length: 29 inches.

Habitat: southern Brazil.

The Glaucous Macaw is very seldom imported into Europe but doubtless its character and requirements would be much the same as those of the other blue macaws.

Golden-Naped Macaw {Ara auricollis)

A rare macaw inhabiting Bolivia and Paraguay, the Golden-naped has seldom been imported.

It is green with a brownish-black head and a wide yellow nuchal collar. There is some olive and maroon in the tail. Length: 16 inches.

Hahn's Macaw [Ara hahni)

A native of Guiana and Trinidad, this small macaw is green with some blue on the head and a touch of red at the bend of the wing. Length: 13 inches. It has sometimes been brought over to Britain.

Hyacinthine Macaw (Anodorhyncus hyacinthinus)

Of a very splendid family, I always think this bird is perhaps the most imposing of them all.

It is of a uniform rich hyacinth blue, deepest on the wings and tail, with a patch of bare yellow skin at the base of the lower mandible and another encircling the eye. The beak is black, and enormous even for the size of the bird. It is indeed so large that it is the one feature, which slightly mars the bird's appearance, giving its head a somewhat top-heavy look. Even so, however, it is a truly magnificent creature.

I believe the plumage is alike in both sexes.

Total length: about 34 inches.

Habitat: central Brazil.

I have never kept one of these macaws, but single tame specimens have the reputation of being both gentle and affectionate. I was once photographed at the London Zoo with a Hyacinthine sitting on my shoulder, and while waiting for the click of the camera I tried to concentrate my thoughts on the gentleness of the species, particularly as its beak was almost touching my ear and both were roughly the same size! It behaved, however, very well indeed and proved to be quite as gentle as I had previously been assured it was, and in the end I longed to take it home with me and put it in a large aviary, partly as a reward for having left me with both ears intact.

Being so large and also expensive, the Hyacinthine Macaw is almost exclusively a zoo bird, being very seldom found in private collections or owned singly as a pet. The reason for this is no doubt the difficulty of providing suitable accommodation. The larger macaws are much too big for a parrot-cage and so are usually kept chained to a parrot stand in the familiar zoo fashion. Certainly, kept thus they often appear to be in quite good health and condition-probably because, unlike most zoo parrots and cockatoos, they are put out of doors in the summer—but I myself would not want to keep them at all unless I could afford to provide them with an aviary which would withstand their powerful beaks, or alternatively a specially made cage in which they would have plenty of room to move about. It must be stressed, however, that although I personally don't like keeping a bird chained to a stand, it is the way the larger macaws usually are kept and they will live for a great many years and also retain their health under such conditions. This again depends largely upon the amount of care and affection that is bestowed upon them, and how often they are let off the chain to sit on their owner's shoulder or climb down the central supporting leg of the stand.

Hyacinthine Macaws are extremely hardy creatures, by which I mean that they are indifferent to cold though not of course to draughts.

Their feeding does not differ from that of the other members of the family and they can, of course, crack open Brazil nuts with ease.

Illiger's Macaw (Ara maracand)

Illiger's is one of the smaller and less brightly colored macaws and makes a very delightful pet.

The male is rather dark green with a red forehead. The cheeks, crown and lower edge of the wing are bluish, and the flights are slate-blue. There are some red feathers on the upper part of the rump and in the centre of the abdomen. The tail is brown and olive merging into bluish-green at the tip. The bill is blackish.

The female is said to have a less extensive area of red on the forehead.

Length: a little over 16 inches.

Distribution: Paraguay and Brazil.

It is a very playful and amusing bird, and will learn to talk. There is a record of one, which had a comparatively harmless passion for upsetting the contents of the waste-paper basket on to the floor, but a rather more harmful, not to say painful, one of playfully nipping its mistress's ankles!

Lear's Acaw (Anodorhyncus lean)

Lear's Macaw is a smaller and less richly coloured edition of the huge and imposing Hyacinthine. It also is hyacinth blue, but of a less intense hue, and the feathers of the breast have paler edges. The head and neck are strongly washed with a slaty-gray color. Male and female are alike.

Length: 28-5 inches, as against the Hyacinthine's 34 inches.

Habitat: Brazil.

A single Lear's as a pet is a delightful bird, very tame and gentle and it will learn to talk a little. The blue macaws have the reputation of being the gentlest members of the whole family, which is just as well considering the tremendous power of their really enormous bills. 1 refer of course to tame unmated specimens. A breeding pair would probably be just as savage as their large, parti-coloured relatives are apt to be when breeding. These can be very savage indeed and it would be no joke to be attacked by a ferocious pair of macaws. The well-known French aviculturist, Monsieur Decoux, had before the war a pair of the large brilliantly coloured macaws—I rather think they were Red and Yellows—at liberty and they went to nest in an old hollow tree in his garden. So savage did they become, however, (particularly, I believe, singling out the postman for their attacks) that they had to be confined, thus putting an end to a very interesting liberty experiment.

Lear's Macaw is an extremely hardy bird, and commenting on this fact in his book Parrots and Parrot-like Birds Lord Tavistock wrote: "The species is excessively hardy. A bird in my possession, when in rough importation plumage, flew into the top of a bare oak tree and stayed there for more than forty-eight hours during a spell of raw January weather. When at length he decided to come down he was not a penny the worse for his long fast and exposure."

Military Macaw (Ara militaris)

While by no means a small bird, the Military Macaw is neither so large nor so resplendent as some of its huge and gaudy relatives.

It is olive-green, brighter and more blue on the head, and with a red forehead. There is a certain amount of golden-brown color on the wings, and the rump is light blue. The flights and lower edge of the wing are blue and the two central tail feathers are vinous color shading into blue at the tip, the outer ones being mainly blue. The bill is blackish.

Length: 27 inches; the female is said to be slightly smaller.

Distribution: Mexico, Central and South America.

Despite its more sober coloring I always think the Military Macaw in really good condition is a very handsome bird indeed. I have had no experience of keeping these birds myself but they used to be imported into Britain fairly often and were said to make good talkers.

Although not so enormous as some Macaws, they are really too big to be kept in an ordinary parrot-cage.

Noble Macaw (Ara nobilis)

In size an inch longer than Hahn's Macaw, but otherwise extremely like it, the Noble Macaw inhabits Brazil, and is reputed to be a good talker.

It is sometimes to be seen at zoos, and has been frequently and successfully bred by an English aviculturist.

Red And Blue Macaw (Ara chloroptera)

One of the trio of large, brilliantly coloured macaws, this bird is as well-known as the Blue and Yellow and is a familiar sight at zoos.

It is crimson with some olive-green feathers in the mantle. The flights are blue and the wings a mixture of olive-green and blue. The rump is light blue, the feathers at the sides being tinged with olive-green. The tail feathers are dark red tipped with blue. The bill is a pale horn-colour.

Length: 34 inches.

Distribution: Guatemala and Guiana.

The female is said to be slightly smaller than the male and I should say that they are probably neither more nor less difficult to sex than their near relative the Red and Yellow Macaw.

As far as I know it has never been pure-bred in confinement, but it appears to have been crossed with the Blue and Yellow at various times and in various countries; and also with the Red and Yellow and the Military Macaw.

Everything in the account of the Red and Yellow Macaw which follows applies equally to this species.

Red And Yellow Macaw (Ara tnacao)

Of all the macaws this huge and gaudy bird is probably the best known, closely followed by the Blue and Yellow and the Red and Blue.

A creature of truly barbaric splendor, it is brilliant scarlet with a tinge of orange behind the large bare patches of white skin on the cheeks. The central portion of the wing consists mainly of orange-yellow feathers tipped with pale green, the flights and lower edge of the wing being a beautiful rich blue. The rump and under tail-coverts are also brilliant blue, and the very long central tail feathers are scarlet tinged with bluish-purple at their base and tips. The outer tail feathers are blue shading into reddish near the base. The upper mandible is whitish horn-colour and the lower one black.

Total length: about 36 inches.

Distribution: Central America and Mexico.

I have not seen a written description of any difference in the plumage of the sexes, but 1 have what I am pretty sure from their behaviour is a true pair of these macaws and there are certain differences in their appearance, quite apart from the fact that in some very definite yet indefinable way one of them "looks a hen" and the other "looks a cock"—impossible to describe exactly why, but every observant bird keeper will know what I mean. The hen has I should say a rather less massive skull and slightly smaller eye than the cock. More noticeable, however, is the fact that the small scarlet feathers of her forehead are quite short compared with the cock's bristly, brush-like ones—all of which gives the cock a bolder and more aggressive and masculine look.

Although I have used the adjective "gaudy" to describe these birds, I am not sure that it is quite a fair one, for truly they are splendid creatures and I think exotic-looking probably describes them best, as they are the very essence of tropical forests and deep blue tropical skies.

Curiously enough, however, they are extremely hardy and can be kept throughout the year in this country in a comfortably planned outdoor aviary without any artificial heat and—a fact that astonishes most people—they are very willing to go to nest and breed successfully when kept under such conditions.

Usually, of course, a macaw of this species is kept as a pet on a stand, and although I always think this rather a dull life for such an active and intelligent bird it cannot be denied that those one sees at any well-run zoo seem quite healthy and cheerful on their "parrot stands"—far more so, indeed, than many zoo parrots and cockatoos in cages. I think this is undoubtedly due to the fact that—at any rate at the London Zoo—the macaws are put out of doors on their stands under the trees during the summer months and consequently get plenty of fresh air, which is absolutely essential and so much better for them than the perpetually stuffy atmosphere of the average parrot house.

The Red and Yellow Macaw makes a charming pet, becoming if properly treated very tame and often learning to say a few words, though as a rule macaws do not compare as talkers with parrots.

There is no point in keeping a macaw at all unless it is really tame, and assuming this is the case its owner should take every opportunity of unchaining its foot and letting it clamber freely about so long as he is with it. It must not, of course, be left loose in a room by itself because with its terrific beak it could if it chose quickly reduce most of the furniture to matchwood! This is no exaggeration, for the other day I tried an experiment with my pair. I had often read that the larger macaws could crack that incredibly hard thing a Brazil nut, so I bought a few for mine. The hen had a little difficulty with hers, but the cock cracked and ate his with ease! Incidentally, if you have a tame macaw these nuts provide a welcome titbit for it.

A macaw kept on a stand never flies nor is it given the opportunity to do so. Consequently I should feel very inclined to clip one of its wings which would enable one to have it in the garden with one. It is true that this would slightly spoil its appearance, but on the other hand the bird would derive an enormous amount of pleasure from being able to walk about on the lawn, and climb about on a garden seat or in a low-growing tree, provided the latter was not too valuable for its owner to forgive a little whittling on the part of the macaw: best of all would be an old, gnarled, decayed tree which the bird could be allowed to whittle to its heart's content. I have never tried this myself and merely put it forward as a suggestion because I do think one owes it to any captive pet bird to give it every possible entertainment and occupation that one can devise for it.

My pair of Red and Yellow Macaws will ultimately live all the year round—and I hope breed—in a large outdoor aviary which I have just had constructed for them. It is 28 feet long (8 feet of this being accounted for by the shelter) by 5 feet wide by 7 feet 6 inches high, and is to my mind an ideal macaw aviary. It is constructed on a framework of tubular metal piping covered with a very strong gauge chain-link netting. The shelter is made of stout sheets of asbestos and contains a single central perch, each end of which is set into the middle of a large square of sheet zinc to prevent the birds sitting and biting at the asbestos. The perch is made of teak as are two others at each end of the flight, and branches of softer wood will periodically be supplied for the birds to exercise their beaks upon by chewing them up. I hope if I possibly can to be able to get them a large natural hollow tree trunk as a nesting site, but these are none too easy to obtain. A good alternative is a large wooden barrel.

I have had three other similar aviaries constructed at the same time which I hope will one day house a pair of Red and Blues; a pair of Blue and Yellows; and finally, dare one hope, a pair of Hyacinthines? I am afraid the last is but a very remote possibility, but it is said that if one wants a thing badly enough one usually gets it so I am concentrating on wanting a true pair of Hyacinthine Macaws very badly indeed!

To return to my pair of Red and Yellows, these are at present passing the winter in a bird-room, in a large cage about 6 feet high by 5 feet long by 2 feet wide which seems to suit them very well and gives them plenty of room to climb around, and about April I shall put them permanently out in their new aviary. I have much enjoyed looking after them during the winter and find them a most engaging and I should say quite youthful couple. The cock is the bolder spirit of the two but not the talker. It is the more retiring hen who sometimes startles herself almost as much as she does me by greeting my appearance with a terrific "HULLO!" which is the full extent of her human vocabulary!

They are an affectionate couple, if at times rather rough with one another, particularly when they get over-excited. At such times they make a deafening din with their terrific voices and have boxing matches with their equally terrific beaks—the hen being sometimes knocked off the perch in the process. I spray their plumage three times a week with rain-water in a small hand pressure-sprayer. They adore being sprayed and get themselves into a wild state of excitement while the pressure is being pumped up, and screeching loudly and holding firmly on to the perch they flap their wings vigorously while being sprayed.

They will both take slices of apple from my fingers but I don't want to get them too tame as I intend to breed from them. It is nevertheless quite obvious what delightful pets they would make.

Their food consists chiefly of sunflower seed and monkey-nuts with the addition of maize, wheat, groats and every other day a small pinch of hemp. Rather unexpectedly they are particularly fond of seakale-beet and will also eat a certain amount of apple though I think they chiefly enjoy pulling it to pieces. Their favorite extra is a cube of stale bread previously soaked in sweetened milk and this I give them twice a week. I think it should be borne in mind, however, that mine are in what you can either call a very large cage or a small indoor aviary, in which they can take a good deal of exercise, and the richness and concentration of a bird's diet should be regulated according to the conditions under which it is kept.

As I have said, the Red and Yellow Macaw is very hardy, and remarkable success in both keeping and breeding it at liberty in this country was obtained at Lilford—Lord Lilford's country seat near Oundle, although there seems a certain amount of doubt as to whether the young were pure-bred or hybrids.

It has also apparently been bred in aviaries on more than one occasion in California, notably by Mr. Leroy S. Chamness of Santa Ana whose pair went to nest several times, the largest number of young they reared in a single nest being three.

As one would expect it has been crossed with both of its near relatives, the Red and Blue and the Blue and Yellow, as well as, rather unexpectedly, with its much smaller and less brilliantly colored relative the Military Macaw.

Red-Bellied Macaw (Orthopsittaca manilatd)

Hardly ever imported, this small macaw inhabits Guiana and its total length is 14 inches.

It is olive-green, tinged with bluish on the head, flights, and lower edge of the wing. There is a tinge of maroon on the belly and a patch of bare whitish skin on the face.

Severe Macaw (Ara severd)

The Severe Macaw is one of the smaller members of the family, and just as there does not seem to me anything particularly sordid about the Sordid Parrot so also there does not seem to me anything particularly severe about this oddly-named macaw!

It is dark green, bluish on the crown and lower edge of the wing. There is a brown band across the forehead and some brownish feathers at the edge of the cheeks. The under wing-coverts are mainly red and the flights slate blue. The base and under surface of the tail are vinous tinged with brownish, the rest of it being bluish-green. The bill is black.

As far as I know there is no difference in the plumage of the sexes.

Length: 20 inches.

Distribution: Brazil and Panama, also Guiana, Colombia, and the Amazon Valley.

I have never kept this macaw myself but a tame one is said to make a very affectionate pet and to learn to talk a little, though not very clearly,

Unlike the larger macaws, they are not too big to be kept in one of the largest size parrot-cages, and will do quite well kept thus, provided they are frequently let out for exercise.

They would probably make excellent aviary birds but I don't think they have ever been bred in confinement, although there is a record of a pair that laid and apparently partially incubated a clutch of eggs near Tours in France towards the end of the last century.

The smaller macaws need the same feeding as Amazon parrots.

Spix Macaw (Cyanopsittacus spixi)

One of the smaller Blue Macaws, this bird is dark blue washed with grayish on the head and neck, the latter color also extending in some degree to the breast. The bill is black.

Length: 22 inches; the female is said to be slightly smaller.

Habitat: eastern Brazil.

Spix's Macaw has occasionally been imported into Great Britain and can be easily tamed. It can be taught to talk and is said to have the additional advantage of not being noisy.

A Tough Constitution

I thought it would be worthwhile trying a little Spanish on old Polly of the Lamb, and thought it best to begin by making friends. It was of little use to offer her something to eat. Poll was a person who rather despised sweeties and kickshaws. It had been the custom of the house for half a century to allow Polly to eat what she Eked, and as she— it was really a he—was of a social disposition she preferred taking her meals with the family and eating the same food. At breakfast she would come to the table and partake of bacon and fried eggs, also toast and butter and jam and marmalade, at dinner it was a cut off the joint with (usually) two vegetables, then pudding or tart with pippins and cheese to follow. Between meals she amused herself with birdseed, but preferred a meaty mutton-bone, which she would hold in one hand or foot and feed on with great satisfaction. It was not strange that when I held out food for her she took it as an insult, and when I changed my tactics and offered to scratch her head she lost her temper altogether, and when I persisted in my advances she grew dangerous and succeeded in getting in several nips with her huge beak, which drew blood from my fingers. It was only then, after all my best blandishments had been exhausted, and when our relations were at their worst, that I began talking to her in Spanish, in a sort of caressing falsetto like a "native" girl, calling her "Lorito" instead of Polly, coupled with all the endearing epithets commonly used by women of the green continent in addressing their green pets. Polly instantly became attentive. She listened and listened, coming nearer to listen better, the one eye she fixed on me shining like a fiery gem. But she spoke no word, Spanish or English. ... At all events her hostility vanished, and we became friends at once.

W. H. Hudson from Birds and Man

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