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LEADBEATER'S COCKATOO. Cacatua Leadbeaten. 



The Cockatoo evidently possesses some sense of humour, particularly of that kind 

 which is popularly known as practical joking. A lady had once shown some timidity in 

 approaching a tame Cockatoo, and was evidently afraid of its beak. The bird thought 

 that it was a great joke to frighten any one so much bigger than itself, and whenever the 

 lady came near its perch, it would set up its feathers, yell and make believe to attack her, 

 merely for the pleasure of hearing her scream and seeing her run away. 



In its own country the Cockatoo is anything but a favourite on account of its 

 devastation among the crops. In treating of this bird, Mr. Gould writes as follows : 

 " As may be readily imagined, this bird is not upon favourable terms with the agriculturist, 

 upon whose fields of newly sown grain and ripening maize it commits the greatest 

 devastation. It is consequently hunted and shot down wherever it is found, a circum- 

 stance which tends much to lessen its numbers. It is still, however, very abundant, 

 moving about in flocks varying from a hundred to a thousand in number, and evinces a 

 decided preference for the open plains and cleared lands, rather than for the dense bushes 

 near the coast. 



