51
ARA TRICOLORBECHST.
(Plate 10.)
- Le petit Ara D'Aubenton, Pl. Enl. 641.
- L'Ara tricolor Levaill., Perr. I p. 17, pl. 5 (1801).
- Psittacus tricolor Bechst., Kurze Ueb. p. 64, pl. I (1811).
- Sittace? lichtensteini Wagl., fide Bp., Naumannia 1856, Consp. Psitt.
Bechstein's description, taken from Levaillant, is (translated) as follows: "This Aras, which others have held to be only a variety of Macao, is according to Vaillant a distinct species. It is one third smaller than the red-fronted species, or 1 ft. 10 in. long, of which the tail takes 11 inches and the bill 18 lines. The latter is of a black colour and has the upper mandible less curved, and the sides of the lower mandible more swollen than is the case in the other Ara species. The cheeks are naked and white, with three lines of red feathers. Head, front and sides of the neck, breast, belly and thighs red; back of the neck pale yellow; back, shoulders and smaller wing coverts brownish red bordered with yellow or green; flanks yellowish, primaries above dark azure blue, below coppery red. Crissum violet blue, undertail coverts pale blue with green and brown-red borders; under-wing coverts red, the larger yellow, and brownish green. Two centre tail feathers all red with blue tips, the outer ones blue on outer webs and tips, red on the rest of the feather."
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.
