The Macaw was formerly to be found in the immediate neighbourhood of such large cities as Rio de Janeiro, &c., but it has long since left the inhabited part of the country. Flat, well-watered, primitive forests appear to be its favourite haunts; it will not ascend mountains, but in high, parched districts, burnt up by the heat of the sun, or in the rocky, wild parts of Bahia, its cry is constantly to be heard. "Whilst we were upon the rivers that irrigate the woods upon the coast," says the Prince von Wied, "we saw this proud red bird, and recognised it at once by its voice, size, and streaming tail, as it slowly beat the air with its long large wings, and steered its course through the blue air." "The habits of this beautiful bird," continues the same author, "resemble those of other parrots. At noon we generally saw them sitting quietly upon the strong under-branches of a large tree, the neck drawn in, and the long tail hanging straight down. Except during pairing time, they fly in small companies in search of different kinds of fruits, especially those of various species of palms, on the hard shells of which they are very fond of trying their powerful beaks. Notwithstanding the noise they usually make, like other species of parrots they become at once perfectly silent so soon as they have found a tree laden with suitable produce, and when they settle upon it, their presence is only indicated by the fall of the husks, which they bite off and throw down. During the cold season of the year we often found them busily seeking out the fruit of a creeping plant called _sphinha_; they climb up its tangled stems very adroitly, and it is then easier to shoot them than under other circumstances. Their crops were quite full of the white seeds of this plant; at other times we found their beaks dyed blue by some species of fruit that they had eaten."