94 CUKIOUS HOMES AND THEIR TENANTS. 



AUSTRALIAN CLIFF-DWELLEES. 



A NOISY MULTITUDE. 



The cliff-dwellers of Australia consist of flocks of 

 great white cockatoos. Certain precipices near South 

 Australian rivers are the homes of innumerable cock- 

 atoos, just as the cliffs of the North Sea are the 

 resort of thousands of sea gulls. The rocks are com- 

 pletely honeycombed by them. In each of the multi- 

 tude of cockatoo nests lay two pointed white eggs the 

 size of those of a bantam fowl, and in time the 

 nestlings issue forth with the mother bird from the 

 hole in which their nest is placed to add their voices 

 to the chorus of triumphant cries above, below, 

 and on every side. The combined shrieks of the 

 multitudes of birds here assembled are perfectly ap- 

 palling, and can only be faintly imagined by those 

 familiar with the yells that a few captive cockatoos 

 are capable of producing. 



There is not much chance of raising fruit or crops 

 of any kind where these birds abound. They waste 

 much more than they devour, and it is almost im- 

 possible to drive them from the fields. They have 

 sentinels posted to guard every approach, and the 

 moment the distant coming of an enemy is seen the 

 sentinels utter a subdued cry, and the field that was 

 before alive with the clamor of the birds is as still 

 as death. In a moment every cockatoo has hidden 



