Extinct birds : $b An attempt to unite in one volume a short account of those birds which have become extinct in historical timesRothschild, Lionel Walter Rothschild, Baron
Science
Extinct birds : $b An attempt to unite in one volume a short account of those birds which have become extinct in historical times
Rothschild, Lionel Walter Rothschild, Baron
Birds; Extinct birds
Of this bird I know only of two in the British Museum, one in Paris, one in
Leyden, one in Liverpool. The specimen in the Paris Museum bears the
inscription "Macrocercus tricolor (Bechst.) M. E. Rosseau. Cuba. Ménagerie
1842." Probably, however, there are more specimens in other museums.
Apparently the last specimen was shot in 1864 at La Vega (Bangs, Americ.
Nat. XXXIX, p. 200).
Like all the extinct West Indian Macaws, Amazons and Conures, it became
extinct through its persecution by the inhabitants for food.
Habitat: Formerly Cuba and Isle of Pines. {52}
ARA GOSSEI ROTHSCH.
(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}
ARA ERYTHROCEPHALA ROTHSCH.
(PLATE 12.)
_Ara militaris_ Gosse, Birds of Jamaica, p. 261 (1847).
_Ara erythrocephala_ Rothsch., Bull. B.O.C., XVI, p. 14 (1905); Proc.
IV Orn. Congr., p. 201 (1907).
Gosse says the description given to him in a letter, just received from Mr.
Hill, was as follows:--"Head red; 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
wings and tail, a mass of intense orange yellow."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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