372 



CUCULIFORMES 



CHAP. 



rectrices are blue, the rest chiefly black, with yellow spots on the 

 outer. The female lacks the red and yellow tints. Small flocks 

 of these birds frequent high trees, creeping about them with the 

 aid of their wings and tails, like Tree-creepers, and at midday 

 dozing in fancied security on the lower branches. They feed 

 upon seeds, and are stated by von Eosenberg to lay two eggs, 

 no larger than those of the Long-tailed Tit, in holes in trees. -^ 



Sub-fam. 3. Cacatuinae. Of the Cockatoos, which are re- 

 stricted to the Australian Eegion, the Philippine and the Sulu 

 Islands, Cacatua galerita of Australia and Tasmania, one of the forms 



with narrow recurved 

 crest -feathers, is white, 

 with the erectile tuft 

 and ear-coverts yellow, 

 the plumage being lax 

 and powdery. C. lead- 

 heateri has a red crest 

 banded with yellow and 

 tipped with white, and 

 a rosy tinge on the head 

 and lower surface. Other 

 species exhibit broad 

 straight white, yellow, 

 or red crests, C. rosei- 

 capilla being decidedly 

 pink below and grey 

 above. In this group 

 the bare orbits may be 

 blue, red, grey, or white. 

 These tame and active 

 birds love open wooded 

 country, and often form 

 immense flocks ; they fly 

 strongly, hop well, utter 

 loud shrill screams, doze 

 in the heat, feed on 

 roots grubbed up from the ground, seeds and grain, and play 

 havoc with crops of maize and the like. Two or three somewhat 

 pointed eggs are deposited in holes in trees or crevices of rocks. 

 ^ Cf. Salvador!, Ornitologia Pcqmaski c Molucchc, i. Torino, 1880, p. 125. 



Fig. 



-Leadbeater's Cockatoo. 

 leadbeateri. x i. 



Cacatua 



