143 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



on tail; naked orbital .skin Avhite ; beak lead-colour 

 tipped with yellowish ; feet dark lead-colour ; irides dull 

 carmine. Female with beak (seen from above) narrower 

 to beyond the middle, but with shorter and 'broader 

 terminal hook. Hab., Philippine and Sula Islands. 



Mr. J. Whitehead (The Ibis. 1899, p. 396) says: 

 " Met with throughout the entire archipelago, but, 

 curiously enough, we never noticed a single Cockatoo in 

 the valley of the Rio Grande. During our expedition to 

 the Province of Isabella, the natives told me that this 

 species was not known to them ; and also during my trip 

 to Cape Engano in the north-east of Luzon, we found it 

 absent. So perhaps this species does net pass the high 

 mountains which divide Luzon at 16 deg. longitude." 

 He does not describe the wild life of the bird. 



Four specimens of this species were purchased for 

 the London Zoological Gardens in 1865, since which date 

 others have been \idded from time to time. Rues says 

 it -becomes very tame, but talks little, and screams 

 horribly ; is one of the rarest in the market and its price 

 is from 75 to 100 marks. 



ROSE-BREASTKD COCKATOO (Cacatua roscica pil 



"Crown of the head pale rosy-white; all the upper 

 surface grey, deepening into brown at the extremity of 

 the wings and tail, and becoming nearly white on the 

 rump and upper tail-coverts ; sides o-f the neck, all the 

 under surface from below the eyes and the under surface 

 of the shoulders, rich deep rosy-red ; thighs and under 

 tail-coverts grey; irides, "rich deep rosy-red"; orbits, 

 brick-red; bill /white; feet nearly dark brown." Ac- 

 cording to Campbell the irides of the male are black. 

 Female with the irides pearl-coloured ; the form of the 

 beak probably differs as in the preceding species. Hab., 

 Australia. 



According to Gould the colouring both of the grey 

 and rose-red is darker in examples from New South 

 Wales than in thrxse from the North Coast. He speaks 

 of this bird as feeding on the plains bordering the river 

 Namoi in flocks of from fifty to two hundred individuals. 

 It is istrong on the wing, and the effect of the clrnm 

 of flight showing first the grey of the backs and then the 

 rose red of the under parts is described as very Ibeauti- 

 ful. It breeds in holes in the tall eucalypti, laying three 

 white eggs. 



Campbell (" Nests and Eggs," p. 617) thus describes 

 the nidification : " Xe.t. Within a hole in a tree, 

 usually near or Standing in water. Eng*. Clutch, four 

 to seven, but usually five ; round-oval in shape ; texture 

 of shell comparatively fine; surface slightly glossy. < 

 sionally with limy nodules :* colour pure white. Dimen- 

 sions in inches of a nair : (1) 1.4 x 1-04, (2) 1.39 x 1-06; 

 of a rounder pair: (1) 1.35 x 1-09, (2) 1.34 x 1.08." 



On page 618 he says : " The nesting places of the 

 Rose-breasted Cockatoo or Galah are easily found. 

 because the bark surrounding the hole is peeled off all 

 round for some distance. Trees near the nest are often 

 .similarly marked by the birds. The young are fed by 

 their parents long after the former have quitted their 

 nests." 



No Cockatoo is probably imported in greater numbers. 

 or offered at so moderate a price, as this one. In 

 Australia, where it is popularly known by the name of 

 "Galah," it is made mu;h of by sheep-farmers and 

 pet-tiers, who take e<reat trouble in teaching it to talk. 

 It is frequently allowed partial liberty, and feeds with 

 the poultry and nio-eons. I am informed that some of 

 the individual birds kept in isolated farms are very 



* This is the ease with many specie* in which the egg.- arc 

 usually smooth ; T have found it not infrequently in eggs of the 

 European Blackbird. A. G. B. 



accomplished talkers, but in Europe the Roseate 

 Cockatoo is not considered at all gifted in this respect; 

 indeed, although I have at various times stood by the 

 cages of some dozens of examples of this species, I can 

 honestly affirm that never yet have I heard anything 

 but the most irritating shrieks from this noisy creature. 

 I think it probable that those examples which have been 

 taught to talk in this country have been taken from the 

 nests, and hand-reared, for it is not in the leai-t likely 

 that birds caught when adult would ever be teachable,, 

 since that is the case with other Cockatoos which are 

 more talented by nature. 



Dr. Ruse speaks of the Rose-breasted Cockatoo with 

 much affection. He admits that it is not a -distinguished 

 speaker, nor even the most gifted Cockatoo ; but he 

 admires it for its wisdom, drollery, the ease with whish 

 it can be tamed, and its amiability. He .-ays it will lie 

 on its hack and play with a bit of \vood or the like, will 

 turn somersaults and do other tricks ; moreover, when, 

 as a jest, he nips his master in the ear or nose, he never 

 injures him. According to his admirer, as the bird gets 

 tamer it becomes less objectionable in the matter of 

 shrieking. This is undoubtedly the case with other 

 kinds of Parrots. 



SLENDER-BILLED COCKATOO {Lli-m>-fl< iK/tica). 



White is its prevailing colour, the lores and forehead 

 being red, the bases of the feathers on the head, neck, 

 and breast being also red, which colouring can be traced 

 through the white of the overlapping feathers ; wing, 

 and tail below washed with sulphur-yellow ; beak bluieh- 

 white, the sere and nostrils hidden by little rose-red. 

 feathers ; feet blue-grey, the scales and claws blackish ;. 

 naked skin round eye, pale blue, iris dark to light 

 brown. Female with distinctly shorter, broader, and 

 coarser beaik than in the male. Probably the lighter iris 

 will prove also to be a female character. Hab., Aus- 

 tralia, from the Gulf of Carpentaria, through the in- 

 terior to New South Wales and South Australia. 



Mr. Gould says of this species: "Like the Caraiuti 

 f/filerifa, it assembles in large flocks, and spends much 

 of the time on the ground, where it grubs up the roots 

 of orchids and other bulbous plants, upon which it 

 mainly subsists, and hence the necessity for its sin- 

 gularly-formed bill. It not infrequently invades the 1 

 newly-sown fields of corn, where it is the most destruc- 

 tive bird imaginable. It passes over the ground in a 

 succession of hops, much more quickly than the Cacatua 

 r/alerita; its powers of flight also exceed those of that 

 bird, not perhaps in duration, but in the rapidity with 

 which it .passes through the air. 



" The eggs, which are white, two in number, and 

 about the size of those of Cacafi/a ynli-rita. are usually 

 deposited on a layer of rotten wood at the bottom of 

 holes in the larger gum trees." 



Some years ago I purchased an example of this bird 

 for a sovereign, as its owner wished t part with it. 

 The bird was particularly amiable and gentle, but irri- 

 tating from the fact that it could only gay one sentence, 

 which it repeated at short intervals throughout the day : 

 this sentence " Hullo, old Cocky-waxy ! was also noi 

 even instructive. When, therefore, at the end of a week 

 I heard of a lady who wished to purchase it for just 

 double what I had given for it. I naturally accepted. 

 I heard afterwards that, under the impression that the 

 upper mandible was a monstrous growth, she had it 

 trimmed down to resemble that of other Cockatoos. To 

 my mind it certainly is a very ugly bird, its elongated 

 upper mandible giving it a hideously deformed appear- 



