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Seadbeater's Cockatoo. 



Psittacus Leadbeateri, Russ. 



Synonyms: Plyctoloplius Leadbeateri, Plyctolojphus erythrojpterus, 



Cacatua Leadbeateri. German: Der Inka-Kakadu. 



TIME was when the acquisition of this glorious bird meant money, 

 and that a considerable sum; from £25 to £30 apiece being asked 

 and freely given; but then communication with Australia was a matter 

 of difficulty, from four to seven months being reckoned an ordinary 

 passage; whereas now the transit is accomplished in about forty days, 

 and the Leadbeater's price has fallen accordingly to £5 or £6; and 

 occasionally a fine specimen may be picked up for a much less sum. 



Beyond his beauty, and that is great, there is nothing to recommend 

 this bird to the notice of amateurs, for he is not very intelligent, nor 

 is he docile; he never learns much, and invariably remains wild and 

 suspicious, even after years of captivity, and much patient effort to 

 convert him to a better frame of mind. Doubtless there are exceptions 

 to the rule we have laid down, for birds have their several idiosyncrasies 

 as well as men, and individuals are always to be found of a more pliable 

 disposition than the average members of their race. 



Dr. Russ has not very much to say about this fine bird, but in his 

 Handbook dismisses it with a curt notice of half-a-dozen lines, quoting 

 its price in Germany at from fifty to sixty marks, which is less than 

 the sum for which it can be purchased here : but this is easily to be 

 accounted for, the Germans are essentially a practical people, and, when 

 all has been said for him that can be said, Leadbeater is an impracti- 

 cable bird. 



In size, Leadbeateri Cockatoo rather exceeds the common Grey 

 Parrot, and is a trifle larger than GoffiVs; the general colour is that 

 of raspberries and cream, a most delicious tint suggestive of summer 

 days at a farmhouse in the country when we were young: the pink 

 shade is deeper on the head, neck and under parts of the body than 



