The case of the Indigo, or Lear's Macaw, Anodorhynchus leari, is unique in South American ornithology. The species, although described more than 100 years ago, was known only through very few living specimens, which entered occasionally the bird trade, without any indication of their origins. It was presumed "probably some part of Brazil" (Salvadori, 1891). The last speculation was that it was unlikely, though not impossible, that the Indigo Macaw might not be an independem species, but rather, a hybrid between the two other well known blue macaws, Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus and A. glaucus (Voous, 1965).