14 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



which ornithologists first became acquainted; it is a native 

 of New South Wales and Victoria, out of which colonies I 

 have never known it to occur, its range appearing to be 

 limited by Moreton Bay on the east and Port Philip on the 

 south. It is not unfrequently seen in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of Sydney and other large towns, and it alike 

 frequents the brushes and the more open wooded parts of the 

 colony, where it feeds on the seeds of the Banksice and 

 CasuarincBy but occasionally changes its diet to caterpil- 

 lars, particularly those that infest the wattles and other 

 low trees. The facility with which it procures these large 

 grubs is no less remarkable than the structure of the bird's 

 bill, which is admirably adapted for scooping out the wood 

 of both the larger and smaller branches, and by this means 

 obtaining possession of the hidden treasure within. 



The Banksian Cockatoo is a suspicious and shy bird, and a 

 considerable degree of caution is required to approach it 

 within gunshot ; there are times, however, particularly when 

 it is feeding, when this may be more readily accomplished. 

 It never assembles in large flocks like the White Cockatoo, 

 but moves about either in pairs or in small companies of 

 from four to eight in number. Its flight is heavy, and the 

 wings are moved with a flapping laboured motion ; it seldom 

 mounts high in the air, for although its flight is somewhat 

 protracted, and journeys of several miles are performed, it 

 rarely rises higher than is sufficient to surmount the tops of 

 the lofty Eucalypti, a tribe of trees it often frequents, and in 

 the larger kinds of which it almost invariably breeds, depo- 

 siting its two or three white eggs in some inaccessible hole, 

 spout, or dead limb, the only nest being the rotten wood at 

 the bottom, or the chips made by the bird in forming an 

 excavation. 



The female and young birds of both sexes differ very con- 

 siderably from the old male in the marking of their tails. 



It is with feelings of great pleasure I find the term Banksii 



