52
ARA GOSSEIROTHSCH.
(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.
