the Birds of North Queensland. 64-3 



roosting in the trees close together ; in the morning they 

 separate and go out in small flocks to their feeding-grounds 

 and return to their roosting-pLace after sunset. They nip off 

 all the leaves and smaller twigs from the trees on which they 

 roost. Iris brown ; feet and bill black ; bare skin on the 

 face bluish white ■" {Olive). 



At least five forms of the larger Sulphur-crested Cockatoo 

 have been described at different times, viz. : — 



C. galerita. Australia. 



C. licmetorhyncha. Tasmania. 



C. triton. Central Dutch New Guinea. 



C. macrolopha. Western Papuan Islands and Aru Islands. 



C. trohriandi. Louisiades and D'Entrecasteaux group. 



If all tliese forms, which are mainly founded on differences 

 in dimensions, and only two of which, C. galerita and C. tri- 

 ton, are generally recognized, are to be maintained^ it becomes 

 a question to which of them our specimens with the wing 

 311-330 mm. are to be referred. The colour of the skin 

 round the eye, noted by Mr. Olive as bluish white, seems to 

 indicate an approach to the race occurring at Port Moresby, 

 C. triton auct., to which species a female collected by 

 Dr. Coppinger at Hammond Island, Torres Straits, has been 

 referred by Salvadori {loc. cit.). In addition, the yellow 

 tinge on the ear-coverts is less marked than in specimens 

 from more southern parts of Australia. 



There is no doubt that if all the forms cited were inhabi- 

 tants of one continental area, it would be considered by many 

 unnecessary to distinguish specifically even such markedly 

 different forms as C. trobriandi and C. galerita. 



If we compare specimens from Northern New Guinea 

 with others from Tasmania or New South Wales, the differ- 

 ence in dimensions is sufficiently striking, whilst the bare 

 parts are also difi'erently coloured. According to Salvadori, 

 however (Orn. Pap. i. p. 95), specimens fully equal in size to 

 the larger examples from Australia do occur in New Guinea, 

 while, on the other hand, specimens from Northern Australia 

 are undoubtedly smaller than many of those from New 

 Guinea. 



