(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."
In spite of the evident differences in the description, the Jamaican _Ara_
has always been united with the Cuban _A. tricolor_, even as lately as
October, 1905, by Mr. Austin H. Clark (Auk, 1905, p. 348), though he
queries it in a footnote. The specimen described by Dr. Robinson, here
quoted by Gosse, was shot about 1765, by Mr. Odell, in the mountains of
Hanover parish, about ten miles east of Lucea.
Habitat: Jamaica.
The specimen described no longer exists, and there are none in any
collection known.
There was a third member of the _tricolor_ group of Macaws found on the
large island of Haiti, which Mr. Clark has also united under _A. tricolor_,
but I believe it must have been different, just as the Jamaica bird. {53}