CACATUA. 



77 



Cacatua galerita. 



SULPHUR-CRESTED COCKATOO. 



I'tiittacus (ji'hrit,,^. Lath., Ind. Orn., Vol. 1., p. lO'J (1700). 



rrt.v,/M„ ,/aA'/-)V", Gould, Bd.s. Austr, fol. Vol. v., pi. I (ls4S): /,/., HaiifU.k. I'.ds. Austr., Vol. 

 II., p. 2 (18(3.5) ; Salvad., Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus„ Vol. XX., p. 116 (is;il); Sharpe, Haiid-1. 

 Bd.s., Vol. II., p. lOMOOO) ; Salvad., Ibis, l'.)06, p. 12G. 



Adult MALK. — Almce and Ixlo/r /r/iifr, an ilnni/dfc'l m-rijiildl rri's/ rir/i xnlpJiur-ij'Hinv : hasps of 

 fe'tthf'rs ot head awd h i iid-mck jmh' sid/ilnir-y /Imr : Imsid lialf uf imn'r ic^'li nf quills nndnf ihe tail- 

 ffa.lhers, fxciqil ihf cntral pair, sid/i/tiir-yfll<'ir ; hilli/ri'i/ishlilack: Ifg^iaiul fi'ct miidij yrfi/isli-hhick : 

 naked skin amund, tlie- fije iiiliiti'., iinth a sUijIit bliiisli slinde nn tin' I'.Hrtniif pd(jf, of the I'ljelld ; iris 

 black. I'lital lem/fji in ihej/es/i 19 iiichest, iinng 1-15, tail S, bill I'S, tarsus Pi. 



Adclt fe.male. — .Siinilin- in plaiiiiige tn the male. 



Dislribntion — North-western Australia, Xorthern Territory of South Australia, Queensland, 

 New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Central Australia, Western .\ustralia. Larger 

 Islands of Bass Strait. Tasmania. 



TCsXC^I'BTLESS there are but few people in Australia or Tasmania who have not seen, 



J ^ either in its native haunts, or in captivity, the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. White, the 



Surgeon-General of the " Settlement of Xew South Wales," ligured it is his "Journal" in 1790 

 under the name of the Crested Cockatoo. In the same year Latham characterised it in his 

 "Index ( )rnithologicus," under the name of Psiflaais i;dli-ritiis. and gave its habitat as New South 

 Wales. Since that time nearly every writer on Australian Ornithology has made reference to it, 

 and Sturt, Leichhardt, Grey and many other .Australian explorers have noted it in their travels, 

 for its range extends throughout all the States, likewise Tasmania. Not only is the Sulphur- 

 crested Cockatoo brought into prominence in literature, but it is fre<[uently depicted by artists 

 in Australian landscapes, the dark green background of a timber-clad mountain range formins a 

 strong contrast to the plumage of a flock of these almost pure white birds during flight. 



With a species having so wide a distribution, it is natural that one finds a great difference 

 in size when a large series of skins are brought together and examined. The variation in plumage 

 is small, and is chiefly in the ear-coverts ; in many they are white, or show but a slight tinge of 

 their pale sulphur-yellow bases; in a few only they are pale sulphur-yellow. I have seen traces 

 of melanism pervading the quills of young birds, and there is an adult male in the Australian 

 Museum Collection, obtained by Mr. Robert Grant at Fernmount, on the Bellinger River, New 

 South Wales, with a faint blackish wash on the quills and outer series of greater wing-coverts, 

 the shafts of some of the (juills being brownish-black. The wing measurement varies in adult 

 specimens obtained even m the same locality. Typically the birds from South-eastern Australia 

 are larger than those from Northern and North-western Australia, and the measurements given 

 above are those of a New South Whales specimen. The longest crested birds in the Australian 

 iMuseum Collection were obtained by Mr. George iVIasters on Pine Mountain, in March 1865, 

 and at Gayndah, Burnett River, Queensland, in September 1870. 



Near the coast it frequents mountain ranges and open forest lands, and in the interior 

 usually the tall timber bordering creeks and rivers, in fact its presence is a sure indication of 

 water in the vicinity. Although found near Sydney in the early days of settlement, it is now 

 seldom seen east of the Nepean River, but is common on parts of the Blue Mountains and on 

 the table-lands of the western slopes. 



• Ind. Orn,, Vol. I., p. igg (1790) 



20 



