84 CACATUIO.K. 



Cacatua sanguinea 



BLOOD-STAINED COCKATOO. 



Viiralud ■'tfiin/ini/rii, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 18+2, p. 13S ; Sturt, Exped. Cputr. Austr., Vol. 11., 



App. p. 3G (1S49) ; (ioukl, Handhk. Bds. Austr., Vol. II., p. (1 {1SG5). 

 (' acnt iia i/ymnojns, Sc\a.t, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1871, pp. 490 4'J3 ; Sharpr, in Gould's Bds. of New 

 Guin., Vol. v., pi. 46(1885); Salvad., Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XX., p. r27(18i»l); 

 North, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. (2nd Ser.), Vol. IX., pp. 37-38 (1894) ; Shnrpe, Hand-I, 

 Bds., Vol. II., p. II (1900); Salvad., Ibis, 1900, p. 130. 

 Adult male. — General ]>lnmai/e ivhife, lurei red, /j((ses of tin' fratliers of tlie head rusij : basal 

 jior/iii,) iif Ih,- inner whs of tin' i/nills mtl/Jiur-i/fHt'/c : inner /nhs nf idl hut tlir central pair of lail- 

 feat/ierx stilphur-yelhnv : hill light ham ralonr, irilh a rer// fdiil hln is/i shudr mi the sides"/ the-irpper 

 mandible in. suine birds : legs and f't dark ii/iah/^i/reg .■ hare space anmad tlir eye dark hi uish-grey ; 

 iris blac.kish-bronm. Totallength in the fir sh 1-ro inches, n-ing I'l-ll, tail J-/", hill l-.iS, tarsns 0-9. 

 Adult femalk. — Similar in plnmage to the )nah\ 



Distnlnitiim — North-western Australia, Xorthern Territory of South Australia, (Queensland, 

 New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia. 



WEKIi it not that those eminent authorities. Dr. P. L. Sclater, late secretary of the 

 Zooloi^ical Society, London, and Count Salvadori, Director of the Zoological Museum, 

 Turin, Italy, agree in declaring that the naked skin around the eye of Cacatua sanguiina, Gould, 

 is white, I should have long ago sunk Cacatua s^yniuopis, Sclater, into a synonym of C. sanguinea. 

 In his folio edition of the Birds of Australia, Gould in referring to C. sanguinea remarks :— " With 

 the e.xception of a specimen brought home by Captain Chambers, R.N., and another in the 

 collection of Mr. Bankier, my own specimens are all that 1 have ever seen ; the whole of these 

 were collected at Port Kssington." The old settlement at Port Essington was long ago abandoned 

 in favour of Port Darwin, consei^uently it is seldom visited by collectors, in fact I know of no one 

 collecting there since the late Mr. .Mexander Morton did on behalf of the Trustees of the Australian 

 Museum, in 1870. The Northern Territory of South Australia is not, however. \\\e terra incognita 

 of Gould's day, principally owing to the opening up of the country for pastoral purposes, and 

 by prospecting parties in search of minerals, and the same may be said of North-western 

 Australia, which Gould includes in the habitat of Cacatua iauL^uiuea. Dr. Sclater described C. 

 gyninopis from a living bird, and gi\-es the habitat as South Australia; he also e.xamined in the 

 Britisn Museum the skins obtained by the late Captain Charles Sturt in South Australia, and 

 refers them to C. gyinnopis. I have examined a large number of specimens, and more than a 

 thousand living examples, during the last (juarter of a century, and have made inquiries from 

 bird catchers and dealers, but have failed as yet to discover a bird from any part of .Australia 

 with the naked skin around the eye white, as Gould figures Cacatua san^uiuea in his " Birds 

 of 7\ustralia." '^ From Dr. W. Macgillivray's notes, however, it will be observed that he has 

 " seen a few old birds in which it was quite white ; whether this was an age change or due to 

 an excessive secretion of powder down I am not certain." Gould described the type of Cacatua 

 sanguinea, in 1842, from a dried skin obtained in Northern Australia, and made no reference to 

 the colour of the naked skin around the eve, but in his figure of this species this part is represented 

 as white. 



Writing to Dr. Macgillivray, and stating I had long ago come to the conclusion that Cacatua 

 gyinnopis was a synonym of C. saunuiuea, and asking him for his opinion, he replied : — " My 

 opinion, and Mr. McLennan's also, of Cacatua sanguinea v. C. gynmapis, is that they are one and 



• Gould, Bds Austr., fol Vol. V.. pi 3 (1S4S). 



