156 Birds I Erne Kept. 



now and tten assists Mm to moult, but should not be given 

 too frequently or his feathers will be always falling out. I 

 have not observed that he drinks much, but if given a dry 

 crust, he will at once dip it in his water tin, and not attempt 

 to eat it until he thinks it has been sufficiently soaked. He 

 is a very hardy bird, as well as a long liver, and I know 

 of no complaints to which he is subject. I certainly lost the 

 only female I ever possessed in a fit, caused, I think, by 

 egg-binding; but this I suspect was more an accident arising 

 from her age, than from natural delicacy of constitution. 



CHAPTER LI. 



THE EOST COCKATOO. 



THIS is a very handsome but not, in my opinion, a de- 

 sirable bird: true, I have never owned but a single 

 specimen, but which I found so highly objectionable in every 

 respect, that I have not had the courage to venture on another. 



The Eosy, or Eose-breasted Cockatoo is about the same 

 size as the bird described in the last chapter; the upper part 

 of its body is slate grey, the under rose colour; the short 

 crest is rose and white, and the under part of the tail black. 



The male, as in the case of Goffin's Cockatoo, can be rea- 

 dily distinguished by the black colour of the iris, that of the 

 female being brown; otherwise the sexes are indistinguishable 

 apart. 



These birds are fed on canary and hemp seed, with the 

 addition of oats and soaked maize as a change, now and then. 

 They do not learn to speak much, but one of them wiU 

 occasionally say a word or two : they scream, however, awfully 

 and almost incessantly: but on the other hand, are quite 

 hardy and will survive in captivity for a number of years. 



