22 ROSE-BREASTED COCKATOO. 



which is, actually, the case; but even then, the capacity for noise pos- 

 sessed by these Cockatoos renders them, in our opinion, very far from 

 being accounted a desirable acquisition in the aviary. 



The long, broad tail, and hawk-like wings of the Eosy Cockatoo, 

 seem to point to its true position with the Platycerci, but as it has the 

 power of elevating at will the short round head feathers, it is usually 

 classed with the Cockatoos. 



There is no difference in either size or colour between the sexes, 

 but the female can always be distinguished at a glance from her mate 

 by her eye, which is chesnut brown, the iris of the male being jet 

 black: a peculiarity to which we have already alluded in speaking of 

 other members of the sub-family, and to which we believe we have 

 been the first to direct attention. 



In their wild state these birds, like all their congeners, nest in the 

 hollow branches of the gum-trees in the vast forests where they live, 

 and the female lays two or three white eggs, rather round in shape, 

 and hatches them in about twenty-one days. With the exception of 

 a. pair belonging to Mr. Cedney, we are not aware that these birds 

 have ever reproduced their species in this country, or on the continent 

 of Europe : but that gentleman's account of his experience is so graphi- 

 cally told, that we must reproduce it in his own words; any attempt 

 at condensation would utterly fail to do him justice. 



"1 was once compelled to act the part of 'wet-nurse' to a pair of 

 baby Cockatoos of this species, whose mother had died, and whose 

 father was so stricken with grief that he neglected the poor little 

 fellows. They certainly were about as uninviting as anything in the 

 baby line that I had ever seen, and even after chewing a cud of maize 

 and shelled oats, it required a considerable amount of consideration 

 before I could summon up sufficient enthusiasm to go through the 

 process of feeding, yet it was a case of life or death, and — but no 

 matter — I will spare my sensitive readers these unsavoury details. I 

 fed the birds and my gentle little bantam hen, who happened to be 

 broody at the time, performed the part of foster-mother to perfection. 

 It is true that she resented the loss of her own eggs at the outset, 

 and that her first look of intense horror and disgust when she saw the 

 big-headed baby Cockatoos, sent me into a fit of ungovernable laughter, 

 still their evident delight at the cheerful warmth of her body, and the 

 ready manner in which they nestled, overcame her first feelings of 

 compunction, and she adopted them as if they were her own. Of course 

 I had to do the feeding, and as the youngsters required their meals 

 at least once an hour at the outset, the bantam hen and her adopted 

 children were kept in a hamper and placed within easy reach, whilst 



