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 770 MACAULAY MACAW These volumes, besides introductory matter, contained the history of England from the ac- cession of James II. to the settlement of the crown on "William and Mary (1685-'9), a pe- riod of only four years ; and as the author an- nounced his purpose to bring the history down to a time which was within the memory of per- j sons still living, a very extensive work was an- ticipated. The "History of England" was re- ceived with as much favor and enthusiasm as ever was bestowed upon the most popular of novels. The brilliancy of its style, the range of its authorities, and its liberal tone make it a favorite wherever a reading public exists. Some of the statements made by the historian led to controversy, as in the case of his charges against William Perm. (See PENN.) In 1849 he was chosen lord rector of the university of Glasgow, and made his installation speech March 21. The next day, on returning thanks for the tender of the freedom of the city of Glasgow, he spoke again, and took a formal farewell of political life, on which occasion he explained the principles which had governed his course as a statesman. " The path of du- ty," he said, " appeared to be between two dangerous extremes extremes which I shall call equally dangerous, seeing that each of them inevitably conducts society to the other. I cannot accuse myself of having ever deviated far toward either." In 1852 he was elected to parliament by the people of Edinburgh without a movement on his part. He neither attended a meeting, nor issued an address, nor expended a farthing. The electors thus acted in order to repair voluntarily the wrong they had done him in 1847. He resumed his place in the house of commons, but the failure of his health did not admit of his participating in debate. His last speech was that which he made at Edinburgh in 1852, on the occasion of his reelection, and that was postponed for several months on ac- count of his illness. At the close of 1855 the third and fourth volumes of his " History of England" were published. They carried the work down to the peace of Kyswick in the au- tumn of 1697, thus covering a period of less than nine years ; and this was not complete, as the details of Scotch affairs for some time were postponed to the fifth volume. The welcome accorded to these volumes was as warm as that which had been bestowed on their predecessors, both in England and in America. His attacks on William Penn were continued in them, and those on Maryborough were much increased in force. His remarks on the Scotch highlands gave much offence in the country of his ances- tors, and he was accused of dealing too favor- ably with the conduct of William III. in his nar- rative of the massacre of Glencoe. In 1857 he was chosen a foreign associate member of the French academy of moral and political scien- ces; and in the same year he was created a peer of England, with the title of Baron Macau- lay of Rothley. He is supposed to have been somewhat puzzled for a territorial designation, as his life had been passed in towns, and lie did not belong to the landed aristocracy ; and he took that of Rothley because he was born there, though with that place.he had neither feudal nor territorial connection. His promo- tion was universally approved. It was supposed that the government wished to avail itself of his knowledge of Indian affairs, the full dis- cussion of which was expected to take place, in consequence of the sepoy mutiny of 1857 ; but he never took any part in the debates of the peers. Continuing to pursue his historical labors, so far as the state of his health would permit, he died suddenly at his residence, Hol- ly Lodge, Campden Hill, Kensington. The cause of his death was an affection of the heart, and its immediate occasion a fit of coughing. He was buried in Westminster abbey. The edition of his "History" published in 1858 contained his last touches and corrections. A fifth volume, comprising all that he left ready for the press and extending to the end of the year 1701, was published by his sister, Lady Trevelyan, in 1861. It also contained a frag- ment giving an account of the death of King William. This, though it had not been revised, and was with great difficulty deciphered from the manuscript, is one of the most finished and beautiful passages of the whole work. His " Complete Works " have been edited by Lady Trevelyan (8 vols. 8vo, London, 1866 ; new ed., 1871). See also " Letters of Hannah More to Z. Macaulay, containing Notices of Lord Ma- caulay's Youth" (1860); his "Memoirs," by Dean Milman (1862); and his "Public Life," by F. Arnold (1862). A complete biography by Lady Trevelyan, and an edition of Macau- lay's letters, are in preparation (1874). MACAW, the common name of the large and gorgeous South American parrots of the sub- family araina, characterized by a large stout bill, compressed on the sides, with the culmen much arched to the prolonged and acute tip ; the lower mandible is deeper than long, and broader at the base than the upper ; the wings are long and pointed, with the second and third quills the longest ; the tail lengthened, gradu- ated, and each feather narrowed at the tip ; tarsi short and robust, and covered with small scales ; toes unequal, the anterior outer rather larger than the posterior outer. This subfam- ily embraces the genera ara (Brisson), conurus (Kuhl), and enicognathus (Gray), as given in the "Genera of Birds" by the last named au- thor ; but as the name macaw is generally giv- en only to the first genus, this article will be restricted to the species of ara, with which the genus macrocercus (Vieill.) is synonymous. The macaws are remarkable for their size and the beauty of their plumage ; they are con- fined to the tropical regions of America, where they inhabit the borders of forests, keeping al- most entirely in the trees and rarely coming to the ground ; they climb about in search of nuts and hard fruits and seeds, which they can read- ily break with their powerful bills ; their food