page_title: Guadeloupe amazon
section_title: Behaviour and ecology
hierarchical_section_title: Guadeloupe amazon / Behaviour and ecology
caption_attribution_description: Labat's Conure (Aratinga labati, "Perique Papagay"), Guadeloupe Amazon (Amazona violacea, "Papagay"), Lesser Antillean Macaw (Ara guadeloupensis, "Aras"). All three species are extinct today. Artwork from 'Nouveau voyage aux iles d'Amérique' by Jean Baptiste Labat from the year 1722
context_page_description: The Guadeloupe amazon or Guadeloupe parrot is a hypothetical extinct species of parrot that is thought to have been endemic to the Lesser Antillean island region of Guadeloupe. Mentioned and described by 17th and 18th century writers, it received a scientific name in 1789. It was moved to the genus Amazona in 1905, and is thought to have been related to, or possibly the same as, the extant imperial amazon. A tibiotarsus and an ulna bone from the island of Marie-Galante may belong to the Guadeloupe amazon. In 1905, a species of extinct violet macaw was also claimed to have lived on Guadeloupe, but in 2015 it was suggested to have been based on a description of the Guadeloupe amazon.
  According to contemporary descriptions, the head, neck and underparts of the Guadeloupe amazon were mainly violet or slate in colour, mixed with green and black, the back was brownish green, and the wings were green, yellow and red. It had iridescent feathers, and was able to raise a "ruff" of feathers around its neck. The bird fed on fruits and nuts, and the male and female took turns sitting on the nest. It was eaten by French settlers, who also destroyed its habitat.
context_section_description: In 1664 Du Tertre described some behavioural traits of the Guadeloupe amazon, and listed items among its diet:
  When it erects the feathers of its neck, it makes a beautiful ruff about its head, which it seems to admire, as a peacock its tail. It has a strong voice, talks very distinctly, and learns quickly if taken young. It lives on the wild fruits which grow in the forests, except that it does not eat the manchioneel. Cotton seed intoxicates it, and affects it as wine does a man; and for that reason they eat it with great eagerness ... The flavor of its flesh is excellent, but changeable, according to the kind of food. If it eats cashew nuts, the flesh has an agreeable flavor of garlic; if 'bois des inde' it has a flavor of cloves and cinnamon; if on bitter fruits, it becomes bitter like gall. If it feeds on genips, the flesh becomes wholly black, but that does not prevent its having a very fine flavor. When it feeds on guavas it is at its best, and then the French commit great havoc among them.
  Clark noted that the Saint Vincent amazon and other amazon species can also raise a "ruff" of feathers around their neck when excited.
  In 1667, Du Tetre repeated his description of the Guadeloupe amazon, and added some details about its breeding behaviour:
  We had two which built their nest a hundred paces from our house in a large tree. The male and the female sat alternately, and came one after the other to feed at the house, where they brought their young when they were large enough to leave the nest.
caption: Labat's 1722 illustration of a Guadeloupe amazon and Guadeloupe parakeet above, and a Lesser Antillean macaw
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