Ornithological and Other Oddities 



But when the bird is excited, either by pleasure 

 or anger, it flushes red ; at any rate this has been 

 observed in a captive specimen. In addition 

 to this very human attribute, the great black 

 cockatoo shows what looks uncommonly like 

 reasoning power in its manner of obtaining its 

 favourite dainty. This is the kernel of the 

 extremely hard and smooth kanary-nut, which 

 the bird negotiates in this way : first it takes 

 the nut in its bill and files a notch in the shell 

 with its lower jaw ; then, transferring it to its 

 foot, it bites off a piece of leaf and lodges this in 

 an indentation of the huge upper bill. It then 

 again takes the nut into its mouth, where the bit 

 of leaf keeps it from slipping, while the edge of 

 the lower jaw is applied to the notch previously 

 cut with such force as fairly to split off a piece of 

 the shell, when the rest of the process is easy. 



The well-known macaws, which mostly have 

 flesh-coloured or white bare faces, are also 

 capable of blushing, both in angry and pleasure- 

 able excitement, and it is quite possible that 

 many more birds possess the attribute if only 

 they have a countenance which makes it possible ; 

 for they must be barefaced in order to blush ! 



