BLACK AND WHITE COCKATOOS. 183 



spot of land for cultivation — as these birds visit 

 the dead or fallen trees to procure the larvae of 

 insects that breed in them. I have seen, more 

 than once, small trees lying prostrate, occa- 

 sioned by the powerful bills of the large black 

 cockatoos, who, observing on the trunk, exter- 

 nally, indications of a larva being within, have 

 diligently laboured to extract it ; and should the 

 object of their search be situated (as often occurs) 

 far in, before they reach it, the trunk is so much 

 cut through, that the slightest puff of wind lays 

 it prostrate.* 



Among some of the few vegetable productions 

 in use among the Australian blacks as food, is 

 the root of a species of bulrush, which they name 

 ' ' Cormiork. " It grows abundantly on the banks 

 of the Yas, Murrumbidgee, Tumat, and other 

 rivers : the roots are eaten only when young : 

 they are prepared by being baked, and the 

 epidermis removed. Europeans who have par- 

 taken of it, say it has an agreeable farinaceous 

 taste. The roots are collected in spring, when 

 the 3^oung plants have just commenced sprout- 

 ing. 



* The black cockatoo (of which at present there are only 

 two species known) feeds on the larvae of insects, or seeds of 

 the Banksia, Hakea, and even those of the Xanthorrhoea, 

 or grass tree. 



