156 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 
observation, have unlimited opportunities for noting the peculiarities 
of birds. Thus, when I see half a dozen cockatoos, or more often 
a single one, pattering to and fro, as if on a general ramble, I can 
safely predict, that, provided the spies report favorably, before a 
week expires the grand horde will appear. It seems perfectly plain 
to me, and those who are versed in bird lore will doubtless agree, 
that those birds are sent for the benefit of the general common weal. 
If they went voluntarily, selfishness would prompt them to settle 
down for the purpose of enjoying the first fruits of their discovery. 
This of itself is wonderful, but the most mysterious part of the 
proceeding to the tyro, is, how the messengers are able to deliver a 
correct statement of the food supply of the district they have visited. 
As I before stated, the vocabulary of the crow consists of the word 
‘caw’ with its various modulations, which convey an infinite number 
of meanings. The language of the cockatoo is more e»pious, 
embracing, to my mind, fully six words, if not more. This, taken 
with the fact that the cockatoo is naturally a more intelligent bird 
than the crow, seems to show that their acts are regulated more by 
pure reason than by instinct. It appears clear to me that the spies 
are sent out for a specific purpose by their comrades, and that they 
clearly understand the instructions they receive, and these they 
seem to carry out honestly, and furnish correct accounts of what 
has come under their ken. 
Furthermore, the intelligence of the cockatoo is progressive. In 
this old settled district they are the hardest birds I know of to 
work round on, from their habit of placing sentries. Years ago 
when I resided upon the Lower Murrumbidgee, they never had 
watchers stationed on trees. The reason this precaution was not 
taken there, was because no person thought it worth while to waste 
powder and shot upon them. The best way to get at cockatoos, is 
to mark the tree in which they roost, and then, provided you do 
not go to it in the early part of the night, you can get a slaughtering 
shot at them. <A sense of danger keeps them awake for hours, and 
the crackling of a dry stick instantly puts them to fight. The 
very best time to get a shot at them, is just before the first streak 
of dawn appears, then they are very fast asleep, and mutter softly in 
their dreams. 
About a dozen years since, bent on a rabbit shooting excursion, 
I started off for the Deep Creek an hour or two before daylight. I 
entered Brodie’s Forest just as the first blush of early morn was 
tinging the eastern sky. Suddenly I heard the low voices of birds 
in a wide spreading box-tree, under which I was briskly walking- 
Though familiar with nearly all the bird sounds hereabouts, I failed 
to detect what sort of birds they proceeded from. It was a low 
muttering, just as if they were talking in their sleep. Their 
