Page:Rothschild Extinct Birds.djvu/87

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ARA ERYTHROCEPHALA⁠ROTHSCH.

(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."

"The specimen here described was procured in the mountains of Trelawny and St. Anne's by Mr. White, proprietor of the Oxford estate." No specimen now known.

Habitat: Jamaica.

Mr. Gosse also relates that the Rev. Mr. Coward, in 1842, saw two large Macaws flying near the foot of the mountains in the parish of St. James, near the centre of the island. These birds were said to have been blue and yellow; if so, probably they were my Ara erythrura, whose precise island home is unknown.

ARA MARTINICUS⁠(ROTHSCH.)

(Plate 14.)

Les Aras Père Bouton, Rel. de l'étab. d. Français dep. 1635, en l'ile Martinique pp. 71. 72 (1640).

Anadorhynchus martinicus Rothsch. Bull. B.O.C. XVI, p. 14 (1905); Proc. IV Orn. Congr., p. 202 (1907).

Père Bouton says, "Les Aras sont deux ou trois fois gros comme les Perroquets et ont un plumage bien différent en couleur. Ceux que j'ai vus avaient les plumes leleucs et orangées."

No specimen preserved.

Habitat: Martinique.