io6 



PARROTS. 



iV 



her. They principally frequent the honeysuckles, but are often in the large gums. 

 The old birds are very shy, and have a loud, hoarse call-note, or cackle. When 

 they first come, they are in large flocks, and they then always frequented the large 

 honeysuckles, over the tops of which tliey would fly, or rather float through the 

 air, with a wavering kind of flight, tojnng and playing with each other, after the 

 manner of the rook at home. As the winter advanced, they appeared to separate, 

 and, although you hardly ever see a single bird, they disperse themselves much 

 more generally over the forests. Their principal food appeared to be large seeds 

 and grubs, and they score the young honeysuckles round with their powerful 



beaks in search for these latter as if 

 «\ cut with a knife. The young birds are 

 excellent eating." Basing his experi- 

 ence on another species. Dr. Guil- 

 lemard also vouches for the excellent 

 quality of cockatoo-pie. 



The curiouslv- 

 Ganga Cockatoo. '' 



coloured ganga, or 



helmeted cockatoo (Callocephalum 

 fjaleatum), of South-Eastern Australia 

 and Tasmania, ditters so decidedly 

 from all its allies as to constitute a 

 genus by itself. The tail, as in the 

 two following genera, is of moderate 

 length and nearly even ; while the 

 head and crest of the male are of a 

 flaming red, and the general colour 

 of the upper and under -parts grey. 

 The cere is peculiar in being feathered, 

 and, while the beak is horn-coloured, 

 the feet are nearly black. There is 

 a tinge of green on the primaries of 

 the wings. The length of this cock- 

 atoo is 13^ inches. It is a shy and 

 forest-loving species, generally leading a solitary life among the topmost boughs of 

 the tallest gum-trees, on the seeds of which it subsists. 



Typical With the exception of the rose-breasted species, in the typical 



Cockatoo. cockatoos, which are those generally kept as pets, the predominant 

 colour of the plumage is either white or rosy white, while in the whole of them 

 the upper mandible has a short hook curving downwards nearly at a right angle 

 to its base. The species, fifteen in number, range over Australia and the islands 

 to the north as far as the Philippines, and include the most gorgeously-coloured 

 representatives of the farnilj^ The crest is subject to considerable variation 

 in form and colour, such variations being of the highest importance in the 

 determination of the various species. In the first place, the genus may be 

 divided into two groups, according to the form of the crest. In one of these 

 two main groups the crest-feathers are slender and terminate in sharp points 



V 



\ 



rv 



'"^fc 



Mm 



f%01!'. 



HEAD OP DUCORPS' COCKATOO. 



(From Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1871.) 



