The beautiful bird, the portrait of which is prefixed to the present article, is one of the rarest of its tribe, and has until very lately been confounded by ornithologists with the Hyacinthine Macaw, a fine but much less splendid species. It is figured by M. Spix in his Brazilian Birds under the name which we have adopted; but is there given without either characters or description. Its claim to generic distinction would seem to depend on the excessive length and powerful curvature of its claws and upper mandible, and on the slight developement of the toothlike process of the latter. Its colour is throughout of a deep and brilliant blue; the beak, legs, and claws, are black; and the cere and a naked circle round each of the eyes are of a bright yellow. Our specimen measures two feet four inches from the top of the head to the extremity of the tail, and the expansion of his wings is four feet. The length of the upper mandible is five inches, and that of the lower, two. [Illustration] [Illustration] THE BLUE AND YELLOW MACAW. _MACROCERCUS ARARAUNA._ VIEILL. The genus Macrocercus is characterized by the robustness of its beak, which is extremely broad and powerful; by the nakedness of its face, which is sometimes entirely bare, and sometimes partially covered with lines of short and scattered feathers; and by the size and form of its tail, which is longer than the body, regularly graduated, and terminating in an acute apex. The whole of the species are American, and are remarkable for the brilliancy of their colours, which are perhaps more varied and more gaudy than those of any of the other modern divisions of the Linnean genus Psittacus. They are consequently more sought after as objects of luxury and elegance, and bear a higher comparative value than the rest of the Parrots. In common with the entire tribe, they inhabit the tropical regions of the earth, and live chiefly upon fruits and seeds. Among the latter they uniformly give the preference to such as are provided with a hard and shelly covering. These they crack with great dexterity, carefully rejecting the outer coat, and swallowing only the internal nut. The Blue and Yellow Macaw is one of the finest of the group. The whole of its upper surface is covered with plumage of the most beautiful azure; the feathers of the under parts on the contrary are of a brilliant yellow. The naked part of the cheeks, which are white slightly tinged with flesh colour, is ornamented with three lines of minute blackish feathers; and the throat is surrounded by a broad collar of greenish black. The forehead is yellowish green. [Illustration] [Illustration] THE YELLOW-CRESTED COCKATOO. _PLYCTOLOPHUS SULPHUREUS._ VIEILL.