The Zoologist— October, 18(58. 1^97 



When the cockatoos 1 have spoken of had their nest in the acacia 

 tree it was very ridiculous to see the extravagant interest taken in the 

 matter by the others of the same species. They used to sit most of 

 the day on the branches, just above the nest, and whenever the parent 

 bird flew out she was attended by a troop of the others, screaming 

 horrible acclamations in her honour. There is an immense deal of 

 originality about this race of birds. They have none of the common- 

 place, humdrum mediocrity. Their curiosity is unbounded, and they 

 evidently look on man and his doings with the keenest interest, mingled 

 with surprise, and perhaps with just a soupgon of contempt. There is, 

 moreover, strongly marked individual character amongst them. No 

 two of them behave in exactly the same manner. I think the large 

 white cockatoo with the broad white crest is the most intelligent of the 

 lot. I had one of them whom I wished to keep chained to a perch, 

 but, though a first-rate London blacksmith tried everything his in- 

 genuity could suggest, the cockatoo beat him utterly. Without 

 breaking it, he contrived to open the ring, or other instrument for 

 holding him, with his beak, though one or two of them must, one would 

 have thought, have required real study to understand. 



The experiment of acclimatising parrots has been tried on a some- 

 what large scale. We have had African, Amazonian and Carolina 

 parrots ; Rosella parrakeets ; large Bengal parrakeets ; four species of 

 cockatoos, and two of lories. The last are magnificent birds, with their 

 scarlet bodies, and very long wings and tail of rich metallic-green : 

 curiously enough, however, they are far less seen than any of the 

 others, as they almost always sit buried in the thickest foliage, and 

 have none of the sensibility and intellectual excitement of the cocka- 

 toos or parrots. In fact, however, all these birds vanish completely out 

 of sight during the greater part of the day. Many of them, indeed, live 

 in the woods at a distance from the house, but even those who have 

 selected the trees in the garden for their residence would not easily 

 be discovered. You would have supposed that at any rate the white 

 cockatoos would have been visible anywhere; but the inclination of 

 all animals is to slip out of the sight of man, and, with the shadows of 

 the trees upon them, an unpractised eye would rarely discover them. 

 In the moruing and evening they come to feed upon hemp-seed and 

 bread and milk, which is hung in a basket from a tripod ; and then, 

 1 can assure you, the groups of them are sometimes most beautiful. 

 Lately we have had great losses — so many have flown away and been 

 shot. But 1 will read a memorandum which I put down one day, a 



