Thornton Skinner — Cockatoo-catching in Victoria



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mammals to be most easily tamed, and in a very short period too.

We used a call-bird in the nets, and the wild bird will always settle on

the ground to windward of it. The dam was full of bird-life. The

most interesting were the Laughing Jackass, a large Kingfisher,

and his laugh will call the late sleeper. There were a pair of Spur¬

winged Plovers about, besides a smaller Plover, which worried us in

the nets ; they paid toll, for we found them a most palatable dish

stewed for breakfast, cooked before “ rigor mortis ” had set in. Duck

and Teal were present in a number of varieties, of which I should

like to mention one we called the Wood Duck ; I believe its proper name

is “ Maimgeese ”. This has an exceedingly thick skin, mostly fat,

which when cooking naturally bastes it to a turn.


The Minah is another bird we saw a great many of; they were

about the size of our Thrush, and would give warning of danger to

the whole neighbourhood, which warning would be taken up by birds

in all directions and passed on. The Black Cockatoo was one of the

handsomest of all. The sulphur crest in contrast to the black made it

especially noticeable, but they were very rare in that district. There

were a great number of “ Magpies ” of two species ; they had a flute-

like whistle, and made their nests on boughs in the open, constructed

of ordinary mud and shaped like a basin. We had our call-birds more

than once attacked by a large Hawk, the name of which we could not

discover, but to give an instance of its rate of flight our nets were

made of the best flaxen string, unable to be broken by the hand, but

this Hawk flew through it as if it was cotton when we pulled it together

to save our call-bird. The Sulphur-crested White Cockatoos were

very common, but difficult to catch in any numbers. Huge Cranes,

known as “ Native Companions ”, walked the pastures in pairs, and

often came within gunshot. Now we only used our guns to supply

our table, and not in the neighbourhood where we wished to catch, and

then only very sparingly. I once found a locality where a lot of Rosellas

had taken to feeding ; they are very handsome Parrakeets, and I think

of more than one variety. There was no chance here of learning

more than the local names of the birds, as books up country are very

scarce. The whole time I was camping out—about eleven weeks—was

one long holiday, the climate genial and pleasant, and only once did



