4 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



with favour by the agriculturist, upon whose fields of newly- 

 sown grain and ripening maize it commits the greatest devas- 

 tation ; it is consequently hunted and shot down wherever 

 it is found, a circumstance which tends much to lessen its 

 numbers. It evinces a decided preference for the open plains 

 and cleared lands, rather than for the dense brushes near the 

 coast ; and, except when feeding or reposing on the trees after 

 a repast, the presence of a flock, which sometimes amounts to 

 thousands, is certain to be indicated by their screaming notes, 

 the discordance of which may be easily conceived by those 

 who have heard the peculiarly loud, piercing, grating scream 

 of the bird in captivity, always remembering the immense 

 increase of the din occasioned by the large number of birds 

 emitting their harsh notes at the same moment ; still I con- 

 sidered this annoyance amply compensated by their sprightly 

 actions and the life their snowy forms imparted to the dense 

 and never-varying green of the Austrahan forest — a feeling 

 participated in by Sir Thomas Mitchell, who says, " amidst 

 the umbrageous foliage, forming dense masses of shade, the 

 White Cockatoos sported like spirits of light." 



The situations chosen for the purpose of nidification vary 

 with the nature of the locality the bird inhabits ; the eggs 

 are usually deposited in the holes of trees, but they are 

 also placed in fissures in the rocks wherever they may present 

 a convenient site : the crevices of the white cliff's bordering 

 the Murray, in South Austraha, are annually resorted to for 

 this purpose by thousands of this bird, and are said to be 

 completely honeycombed by them. The eggs are two in 

 number, of a pure white, rather pointed at the smaller end, 

 one inch and seven lines long by one inch two and a half 

 lines broad. 



All the plumage white, with the exception of the elongated 

 occipital crest, which is deep sulphur-yellow, and the ear- 

 coverts, centre of the under surface of the wing, and the 

 basal portion of the inner webs of the tail-feathers, which are 



