146 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



the price fluctuates to an extraordinary degree from 30 

 to 40 marks, but more often from 80 to 150 marks for 

 one specimen. It is probable that in England it is 

 more reasonable, since very many specimens have been 

 exhibited since 1855 in the Gar-dens at Regent's Park. 



BARE-EYED CCCKATOO (C'acatua yymnopis). 



White ; the feathers of the head, hind neck, and abdo- 

 men stained at the base with rose ; flights and inner 

 webs of tail-feathers pale yellow ; forenead and lores 

 stained with red ; orbital naked region blue and form- 

 ing a large paten under tne eye ; ueak whitish ; leet 

 'bluish ; irides dark brown. Female apparently with 

 the beak broader, more arched, and with shorter and 

 thicker terminal hook., itab., Southern, Northern, and 

 North- Western Australia. 



Mr. A. J. Campbell (" Nests and Eggs of Australian 

 Birds," p. 613) thus describes the niditication of this 

 Cockatoo :--At>/. A hole or hollow in a tree. Eyyo. 

 Clutch, four ; roundish in form ; texture somewhat 

 coarse ; surface glossy and minutely pitted ; colour, 

 white. Dimensions in inches of a pair from the Barrier 

 Range (New South Wales) : (1) 1.5 x 1.18, (2) 1.45 x 

 1.12." 



This species first reached the London Zoological 

 Gardens in 1871, since which date other examples have 

 been exhibited there. Russ says that since 1877 single 

 examples have been not infrequently received by the 

 wholesale dealers of London and' Hamburg, and 

 generally advertised as talkers, lie states that the cry 

 is a long-drawn Owl-like call, tout only uttered in the 

 evening and during Might, lie considers it one of the 

 most charming and most gifted of all the Cockatoos. 



BLOOD-STAIXED COCKATOO (C'acatua sanguined). 



White ; base of inner webs of flight and tail feathers 

 clear sulphur-yellow ; base of lores and sides of face 

 stained with blood-red patches ; naked orbital ring 

 white ; beak yellowish-white ; feet nearly brown ; irides 

 dark brown. Female with shorter and broader beak, 

 with coarser terminal hook. Hab., "Australia: N. 

 Coast, New South W T ales, Interior." (Salvador!.) 



Gould remarks ("Handbook," Vol. II., p. 7) : 

 " That no bird is more common on the Victoria is cer- 

 tain, for Mr. Elsey informed me he saw it there in 

 flocks of millions. 



" The Blood-stained Cockatoo inhabits swamps and 

 wet grassy meadows, and is often to be seen in company 

 with its near ally, the C'acatua yalcrita, but I am in- 

 formed it is even more shy and difficult of approach 

 than that bird. It is doubtless attracted to the swampy- 

 districts by the various species of orchidaceous plants 

 that grow in such localities, upon the roots of which 

 at some seasons it mainly subsists.'' 



Mr. A. J. Campbell ("Nests and Eggs," pp. 614-617) 

 gives a very full account of the species, from which I 

 quote the following: "Mr. Herbert Kenny, while at 

 Cooper's Creek, wrote me : 'At times the Blood-stained 

 Cockatoos are to be seen in immense flocks. In the 

 season you may see the blacks bringing home their 

 dilly bags full of eggs and young ones of all sizes, from 

 those just out of the shell to fully-fledged ones.' Mr. 

 Kenny sent me a set of eggs with the following in- 

 teresting data : ' Eggs of Blood-stained Cockatoo taken 

 from gum tree in Innamincka water-hole, Cooper's 

 Creek, within a few yards of spot where Burke, 

 the explorer, perished. The nest contained four eggs, 

 which varied in size. Taken 17th August, 1899. Saw 

 blacks with eggs latter end of July.' 



"Far north Blood-stained Cockatoos resort to the 

 holes of the coolibar, or flooded ibox (a species of 

 eucalypt), the principal tree in the district. After a 



certain age the young are left during the day, and are 

 led at evening, when the congregation of birds returns 

 from the plains. The young are then fed in the usual 

 Cockatoo manner, by the parent birds pumping half- 

 digested food from their crops into the young ones' 

 mouths." 



Air. Campbell thus describes the nest and eggs : 

 '' Ne-st. In a hole in a tree; sometimes in timber stand 

 ing in a lagoon or swamp. Kgys. Clutch, three to 

 four; oval inclined or roundish in shape; texture ot 

 shell somewhat coarse ; surface glossy, in some examples 

 rough, with limy nodules ; colour, white. Dimensions 

 in inches of a clutch from Cooper's Creek (South 

 Australia) : (1) 1.44 x 1-08, (2) 1.4 x 1-07, (3) 1.33 x -98 ; 

 ot a pair from the Gulf of Carpentaria district: 1.6 x 

 1.14, (2) 1.45x1-09." 



This species was first purchased by the London 

 Zoological Society in 1865 ; but, in spite of its abund- 

 ance in its native^ haunts, it is rarely seen in the 

 European bird-markets, and naturally fetches a high 

 price. In the ninth edition of the Society's List I see 

 that an example was purchaised in 1885. See, however, 

 the next species. 



COFFIN'S COCKATOO (Cacalua yofiini). 



Smaller than the preceding species; the orbital naked 

 skin white tinted with blue; beak pale blue; feet dirty 

 blue; irides light red. Female smaller than male, the 

 i>eak longer and with more slender terminal hook.* 

 Hab., Tenimber Islands. 



Doubtless the wild life of this bird would nearly 

 resemble that of C. sanguined. According to Russ it is 

 far-famed as gentle, peaceable, charming, clever and also 

 learned in imitating words, whistling, and mimicry of 

 all possible sounds, though some say it is an aggravating 

 niier, whilst others say it is not gifted as a talker, 

 but does not scream. RUKS gives its price in Germany 

 as from 5 to 7 10s. per specimen. 



In the earlier editions of the Zoological Society's 

 " List of Animals," C. goffini is said to be from Queens- 

 land, several examples having been acquired between 

 1862 and the is-sue of the eighth edition; the question 

 is whether these ought not to have been referred to 

 C. sanguined. In the ninth edition five examples are 

 enumerated, from the correct locality- Timor-Laut, the 

 first three of which were deposited in 1883. 



DUCORPS' COCKATOO (Cacatua 



Differs from C. sanguined in the absence of red 

 markings from the face, which is wholly white ; the crest- 

 feathers reddish-orange at base with a. tinge of lemon - 

 yellow; orbital skin nearly circular, pale blue; ibeak 

 and feet grey ; irides brown. Female with smaller and 

 narrower beak. Hab., Solomon Islands. 



I have found no notes on the wild life of this Cockatoo. 

 It was first purchased for the Regent's Park Gardens in 

 1864. and in 1871 a third example was presented ; others 

 were received later. Russ speaks of it as rare, and 

 gives its price as from 60 to 100 marks (roughly 3 

 to 5) ; he says that several examples in the 

 hands of avicultnrists have laid eggs in captivity, but 

 this is not unusual with female Parrots : its behaviour 

 is said to resemble that of Gcffin's Cockatoo. 



RED-VENTED COCKATOO (Cacatua hcematuropygia). 



White ; inside of crest tinged with sulphur-yellow or 

 with very pale vermilion ; ear-coverts washed with rose- 

 pink ; under tail-coverts pale vermilion with white 

 edges ; wings and tail beneath sulphur-yellow, brighter 



* The sexed female in th* British Museum colleoticm also has 

 the head, throat, and brea&t white, the crest slig-htly yellowish ; 

 but possibly these colour differences may not be constant. 



