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•#reat §Black Cockatoo of 

 §ew Guinea, or ^oliath ||ratoo. 



Psittacus aterrimus, Gml. 



Synonyms: Microglossa aterrima, Z.S.; Microglossum griseus, Swns.; 



M. ater, Lss.; Solenoglossus ceylauicus, Edws.; 



Ara electo, Tmm.; Cacatua intermedia, Schlg.; G. aterrima, Yll.; 



Psittacus gigas, Lth.; P. Ooliah, Khl. 



German: Der Schwarze Ararahahadu, Rss. 



French: Microglosse noir a trompe. 



THAT so remarkable a bird as the Great Black Cockatoo of New 

 Guinea should early have attracted the attention of travellers in 

 its native regions is only natural; for, quite without exception, it is 

 the most extraordinary looking member of the order to which it belongs, 

 namely, that of the Psittaci, as well as of the family Cacatuidce, of 

 which it constitutes tho sole genus Microglossa. 



It was described as early as 1707, by the Dutch writer, Van der 

 Meulen, and figured by Peter Schenk, under the name of Oorbeau cles 

 Indes, both description and plate testifying rather to the imaginative 

 powers of the artist and author, than to their fidelity to nature. 



Fifty-seven years later, in 1764, Edwards described it accurately, 

 not however from a living specimen, but from a drawing, which he 

 had received from the Dutch Governor of Ceylon; and twenty-six 

 years afterwards the birds was scientifically named by Gmelin. 



Numerous other writers, of different nationalities, have written about 

 this curious Cockatoo; and amongst them we may mention Buff on, 

 whose narratives are so readable, but so little, as a rule, to be depended 

 on for accuracy. Wallace, Lesson, Bechstein, and Meyer have also 

 given more or less circumstantial accounts of the bird, which has been 



