? _Ara tricolor_, +Le Vaill.+ pl. 5.
[74] “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 part of neck, and back, a fine scarlet. Wing coverts and
breast, deep sanguine red. Winglet and primaries, an elegant light
blue. The legs and feet were said to have been black; the tail red
and yellow intermixed.” (Rob.)
If this be not the _Tricolor_ of Le Vaillant, which is the only Macaw I
am aware of marked with a yellow nape, it is probably undescribed. The
two descriptions do not, certainly, agree exactly; yet still I cannot
but think the bird seen by Robinson, whose description I give below,
to be this very rare species. Of the present specimen the Doctor says,
“This bird I saw stuffed. The legs and tail were wanting. It seemed
less than the common Red and Blue Macaw. By what I can judge from this
sample, this bird has never yet either been figured or described.
Sir Henry Moore, late Lieutenant Governor, often assured me that the
Jamaica Macaw was very different from any he had ever seen. The subject
now before us was shot [probably about 1765,] in the mountains of
Hanover parish, about ten miles east of Lucea, by Mr. Odell.”
Latham has attributed _Ara aracanga_ and _ararauna_ to Jamaica; the
former on the authority of Brisson.
The latter, Browne (Hist. Jam. 472,) expressly says he himself killed
there. The Rev. Mr. Coward at present Curate of Highgate, near Spanish
Town, informed me, that being in St. Elizabeth’s, in a plain at the
foot of a chain of mountains dividing that parish from St. James, and
consequently nearly in the medial line of the island, about 1842, one
of the party called, “look! look!” and looking up, he saw two birds
flying over-head, which he at once saw were parrots, but of very large
size: and he was told that they were Macaws. On inquiring further of
those resident in the neighbourhood, to whom the birds were familiar,
he was informed that their plumage was blue and yellow. These were
probably _Ararauna_.
A letter just received from Mr. Hill, who kindly assisted my inquiries
on the subject, says;—“I have ascertained with unquestionable
certainty, that Macaws are occasionally, if not constantly, denizens
of our mountain forests. They are found exclusively in the central
mountains westward of the island, and are observed on the skirt of the
partially cleared country, at an elevation of 2500 or 3000 feet above
the sea. They have been surprised in small companies feeding on the
full-eared maize, while the grain was soft, milky, and sweet, and the
very husk was sugary. Every description I have received of them, makes
the species to be the _Ara militaris_, the Great Green Macaw of Mexico.
The head is spoken of as red; the neck, shoulders, and underparts of a
light and lively green; the greater wing-coverts and quills, blue; and
the tail scarlet and blue on the upper surface, with the under plumage
both of the wings and tail, a mass of intense orange yellow.
“Autumnal rains set in with westerly winds in the Gulf of Mexico, when
the Ara is said to migrate from the mountain ranges on which it breeds
on the continent, and not to return till the turn of the year. From
_our_ birds being found only in the western parts of the island, I
suspect that they are casual visitors, coming to us at the end of the
year. The ordinary Parrots wing high, but the Macaws are exceedingly
high fliers, and the command of the continental and insular shores,
could be no difficulty to birds of their powerful, though, usually,
not long-sustained flight. When the October rains set in, storms and
deluges from the mountains of the continent to the west of us, send
myriad flocks of aquatic birds over to us, and it is extremely likely
that these magnificent Parrots are driven to our shores, where they
find in our genial mountains, the mild quietude of the upper summer
woods of Mexico.
“A mountain district very remote, between Trelawney and St. Ann’s,
here and there cleared and settled,—a peculiar country called the
_Black grounds_, is said to be the never failing resort of these
Mexican Macaws. I have been assured that several birds have been
procured there. This is said to be nearly as far eastward as they have
been found. Further westward, in the neighbourhood of the Accompong
Maroons, young birds, bearing the evidence of being in the first year’s
plumage, have been procured from hog-hunters. One specimen, purchased
from them by Mr. White, the proprietor of Oxford estate, was for some
time the admiration and talk of the country round. I have been informed
by those who have noticed the bird on the wing, that although the
Macaws are never seen but flying extremely high, their great size, and
their splendid length of tail, brilliant with intense scarlet, and blue
and yellow, strikingly attract attention, if their harsh scream, heard
in the hushed mountain solitudes, does not betray them. They fly from
one ridge to another, journeying in pairs, and have been followed by
the eye till they have alighted on the loftiest of the forest trees, in
their chosen resting places.”