THE GREAT SULPHUR-CRESTED COCKATOO. BIRDS. THE GOLIAH COCKATOO. 



with the head black and the back of the neck orange- 

 coloured; the orbit is white and is continued into a 

 point before and behind; the wings are edged with 

 blue, and the tips of all the tail-feathers, except the 

 two middle ones, are blue. 



THE GEEAT SULPHUR-CRESTED COCKATOO ( Ca- 

 catua galerita). The Cockatoos, like the preceding 

 Parrots, have a broad and even tail, but they are 

 readily distinguished from those birds by the presence 

 of a large crest, which the birds are able to elevate 

 or depress at pleasure. Their name is an imitation of 

 the peculiar cry of some of the species, which closely 

 resembles the syllables Kalcatoe. They are ah 1 inhab- 

 itants of the islands of the Eastern archipelago and 

 Australia ; the latter is the native place of the present 

 species, one of the finest of the whole. 



The Great Sulphur- crested Cockatoo measures two 

 feet in length, and is of a pure white colour, with only 

 a slight yellowish tinge about the sides of the tail and 

 the wing coverts ; the head bears a long pointed crest 

 of a fine sulphur-yellow colour, the tip of which is a 

 little curved upwards. This bird is not unfrequently 

 brought to this country, and will learn to perform 

 various tricks and to speak with some distinctness. 



THE SMALL SULPHUR-CRESTED COCKATOO (Cacatua 

 sulphurea) resembles the preceding species in almost 

 every particular except its size, its length being only 

 about fifteen inches. It has a sulphur-yellow spot 

 below each eye. The Moluccas and other islands 

 of the Indian archipelago are the habitation of this 

 bird, which is perhaps more frequently brought to 

 Europe than the preceding species. In captivity it 

 displays to the fullest extent a habit common to all the 

 Cockatoos, namely, that of uttering a most discordant 

 screaming noise ; it is, however, tolerably docile, and 

 will learn to speak a few words. 



THE BROAD-CRESTED COCKATOO (Cacatua cristat a), 

 another white species, is about seventeen inches in 

 length, and has the head and breast slightly tinged with 

 rose colour ; its crest, which is very large, is composed 

 of feathers which are white above, and rich scarlet 

 beneath, producing together a delicate rose-tint. This 

 species inhabits Australia. 



LEADBEATER'S COCKATOO (Cacatua Leadbeateri), a 

 very handsome species, also a native of Australia, is 

 a little larger than the Small Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, 

 and of a white colour, tinged with crimson, and with 

 the lower surface of the wings deep crimson. The 

 head is adorned with a crest of long, pointed feathers, 

 capable of being erected so as to form a perfect fan ; 

 they are deep crimson at the base, then yellow, then 

 crimson again, and their apical half is white. 



THE LONG-NOSED COCKATOO (Licmetis tenuiros- 

 tris) Plate 13, fig. 53. This bird is distinguished 

 from the ordinary Cockatoos by the small size of its 

 crest, and the great length of the upper mandible, which 

 is produced far beyond the lower one. It is an inhab- 

 itant of South Australia, where it is seen in great flocks, 

 and spends much of its time upon the ground, searching 

 for bulbous roots which its curiously-formed bill enables 

 it to dig up with facility. It also attacks the corn fields 

 occasionally and does much damage. The larvae of 

 bisects are also a favourite food with it, and in searching 



for these under the bark of trees, it is said to make use 

 I of its projecting upper mandible as a sort of lever to 

 prize off the bark. 



THE GOLIAH COCKATOO (Microglossum aterrimum) 

 Plate 15, fig. 54 an inhabitant of New Guinea and 

 the neighbouring islands, one of the largest of known 

 parrots, is distinguished by several remarkable char- 

 acters. Its cheeks are covered with a naked skin, as 

 is the case in the maccaws, which this bird further 

 resembles in the immense size and strength of its bill ; 

 but within these powerful jaws there is a small and 

 slender tongue very different from that of any other 

 parrot, or indeed of any other bird. Le Vaillant 

 compares it to the trunk of an elephant, and gives the 

 bird the name of Ara a trompe or " Trunked maccaw." 

 This organ is of a cylindrical form, capable of being 

 considerably protruded from the mouth, and terminated 

 by a cleft horny extremity. According to Le Vaillant 

 the bird breaks up his food by means of his beak, and 

 then, putting out his tongue, takes up a portion of the 

 food in the cleft at the extremity of that organ ; the 

 tongue is then drawn back within the bill and passed 

 along the palate where there is a small projection, 

 which, coming in contact with the morsel of food 

 carried by the tongue, detaches it and causes it to fall 

 into the throat. 



The Goliah Cockatoo is entirely black, but the living 

 bird has a greenish-gray tint from the quantity of whitish 

 powdery matter which is scattered over the feathers, 

 and which occurs in more or less abundance in most of 

 the cockatoos. The tail is very short. The enormous 

 bill is black ; the naked wrinkled skin of the cheeks is 

 red ; and the crown of the head is furnished with an 

 erectile crest of long, slender, gray feathers. 



THE BANKSIAN COCKATOO (Calyptorhynchus 

 Banksii). Besides the white cockatoos, several other 

 species of this group are found in various parts of 

 Australia, in which the general colour of the plumage 

 is black in the males, and blackish-brown spotted with 

 white in the females. The crest in these birds is 

 smaller than in the white cockatoos, but they are 

 generally provided with long and ample tails. In the 

 Banksian Cockatoo, which is a very large and magnifi- 

 cent species, the whole of the plumage is deep black in 

 the male, with a very broad red baud crossing all the 

 tail-feathers except the two middle ones ; in the female 

 this red band is broken up by numerous irregular black 

 marks. These birds are generally seen in small parties 

 of about six or eight in number, except during the 

 breeding season, when they live in pairs. They de- 

 posit their eggs in the hollow dead branches of the 

 gum-trees. Their food consists partly of fruits and 

 seeds, and partly of insects, which they seek with great 

 avidity under the bark of trees. 



THE FUNEREAL COCKATOO (Calypt&rJiynchus fune- 

 reus) is another species, about the same size as the 

 preceding, from which it is distinguished by the orange- 

 yellow colour of the band across the tail. This bird 

 is called the Wy-la by the natives, in imitation of its 

 mournful cry. 



THE PHILLIP ISLAND PARROT (Nestor productus) . 

 Besides the preceding and many other fine birds of 

 this family, the Australasian region nourishes several 



