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.
[Illustration: ARARA MACAO ____ SCARLET MACAW
(_about one quarter Life size._)]
[Illustration: THE SCARLET MACAW (_Ara Macao_).]
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.
* * * * *
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.