416 HABITS OF THE COCKATOO. 



these birds are found in the same apartment, however silent they may 

 be when left alone, the presence of a visitor excites them to immedi- 

 ate conversation, and the air resounds with "Cockatoo!" "Pretty 

 Cocky!" in all directions, diversified with an occasional yell if the 

 utterer be not immediately noticed. 



They are confined to the Eastern Archipelago and Australia, in 

 which latter country a considerable number of large and splendid spe- 

 cies is found. The nesting-place of the Cockatoos is always in the 

 holes of decaying trees, and by means of their very powerful beaks 

 they tear away the wood until they have enlarged the hollow to their 

 liking. Their food consists almost wholly of fruits and seeds, and they 

 are often very great pests to the agriculturist, settling in large flocks 



Cockatoos. 



upon the fields of maize and corn, and devouring the ripened ears or 

 disinterring the newly-sown seeds with hearty good-will. The wrath 

 of the farmer is naturally aroused by these"^ frequent raids, and the 

 Cockatoos perish annually in great numbers from the constant perse- 

 cution to which they are subjected, their nests being destroved and 

 themselves shot and trapped. 



To those, however, who own no land and are anxious about no crops, 

 a flock of Cockatoos is a most beautiful and welcome sight as the birds 

 flit among the heavy-leaved trees of the Australian forest, their pinky- 

 white plumage relieved against the dark masses of umbrageous shade 

 as they appear and vanish among the branches like the bright visions 

 of a dream. 



