ANODORHYNCHUS PURPURASCENS

Le gros Perroquet de la Guadaloupe Don de Navarette, Rel. Quat. Voy. Christ, p. 425 pl. II (1838)
Anodorhynchus purpurascens Rothsch. Bull, B.O.C XVI, p.13 (1905); Proc. VI Orn. Congr., p. 202 (1907)

The original description of this bird says it was entirely deep violet. Native name Oné couli. No specimen extant. I have placed this species in the genus Anodorhynchus on account of its uniform bluish colour.

Habitat: Guadaloupe

(Website editor: Rothschild based this entry and the plate on very sketchy information from Navette. We believe, however, this may have been a Hyacinthine Macaw traded up the Caribbean islands or direct from South America. In a short essay entitled "On Extinct and Vanishing Birds" published in the Proceedings of the Fourth International Ornithological Congress held in London in June 1905 Rothschild wrote "Then in Guadaloupe there was a very large Macaw of an intense violet purple colour, which I propose to call Anadorhynchus (sic) purpurascens, nom. nov. Thhis bird was called "Onécouli" by the Caraïbes, according to Fernand Columbus".)