CACATL'A. 



81 



Cacatua leadbeateri. 



L E A D B E ATE R'S COC K A TOU. 

 Pli/c/'ilu/ihas Iradb/'afirl, V'ig , Proc. Zool. Soe., 1S3I, p. 01. 



Cacatua Iradhra/eri, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. V., pi. 2 {184S); i,l., Handbk. Bds. Austr., 

 Vol. II., p. 5 (ISGo) ; SaUad., Oat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XX., p. 12.5 (1891) ; Sharpe, 

 llaiid-l. Bds., Vol. II., p. 11 (IDOO); Salvad., Ihis, 1906, p. l.'iK. 



Adult male. — (ri^in'ral colour above tvlii(i\ the inner v)c})s of the, i/ui/ix and all hnt the central 

 pair iif tail-f'atli'T^, e.rcepl toivnrds tlir tips, rose colour: cron-n of the head and the anterior crest 

 feallurs ir/iifr, the remainder of the latter >v/iitf\ criiasou at t/ie base, n-it/i a spot of i/ellon: in the 

 centre: a narrou) frontid hand rosij-red : sides of /lenjf hind-neck, cheeks, tliroat and breast rose 

 colour ; bill light horti colour : legs and feet dark nieali/ grey : skin around the eyes paje creamy- nthite ; 

 iris dark bnnrn. Total hnglli in tlie flesli Pi-. .'-5 inches, tving lOS, tail Ho, bill P-l, tarsus 0-9. 



Adult kkmalk — Sunilor in plnmnge to the male, but slii/litli/ pnler and liaring more yelJon; in 

 the crest (pothers. 



Distribution — New South Wales, Victoria, South .Australia, Central .Australia, Western 

 Australia, North-western Australia. 



1 





^IlE inland portions of the southern half of the .Australian continent constitutes the 

 stronghold of the present species, more familiarly known as the " Major Mitchell," or 

 by the popular name of •' Wee-jug.5ler." It is probably the most delicately coloured of all the 



.Australian Cockatoos, but its reputation as a talker is 

 far behind that of all other species. It is freely dis- 

 tributed throughout Western New South Wales, and 

 the Horn Scientific E.xpedilion met with it in Central 

 Australia, in lX^^, near Fmke Gort,'e, and specimens 

 were obtained at Alice Well. Ih. .A. M. Morgan sent 

 me a note that during his trip with 1 >r. .A. Chenery, in 

 August igo2, " Ctudtiiii leadbeateri was seen first at 

 Wippipipee Rock Holes, a flock of about one hundred. 

 This species was afterwards seen in smaller flocks, 

 but never far from water. .\t Wippipipee a female 

 was shot, whose stomach c(jntained some seeds with a 

 very hard pericarp. These birds came in for water 

 several times a day." In W'estern Australia Mr. Tom 

 Carter met with it on the Lower Murchison River, and 

 Mr. G. A. Heartland, in the Great Desert of North- 

 western Australia, while a member of the Calvert 

 Exploring Expedition in 1896. 



The late Mr. K. H. Bennett made the following notes 

 at Moolah, in Western New South Wales; — "The 

 chief haunt of Caeatiia leadbeateri is the thickly timbered 

 or scrubby and arid country situated between the Lachlan and Darling Rivers, where it is 

 extremely numerous in some localities, but generally it is met with in small flocks of eight or 

 ten indi\iduals. 



" Its food consists of various kinds of seeds, some obtained from trees and others from small 

 herbaceous plants; it also feasts upon the seeds of a small species of wild melon, which grows in 

 large quantities throughout this part of the country. When its hunger is appeased it has a 

 habit of cutting off the smaller branches of the trees or shrubs in which it may be resting. It 



LEADliKATRR.S COCKATOO. 



