GREAT BLACK COCKATOO. 127 



from an involuntary flow of- blood to the part through fear, anger, or 

 excitement; rather than from a deliberate action on the part of the 

 bird exerted in self-defence. 



The most remarkable fact connected with this strange creature is 

 the smallness of the tongue; which is more like a round pink worm 

 with a blunt black head, than the tongue especially of one of the 

 Parrot tribe. It seems almost lost in the enormous cavern of the 

 mouth, where it rolls about in the most extraordinary manner when 

 the creature is eating. 



It is curious to see this Cockatoo take a great beakful of seed, hemp 

 for instance, and lodge it in a kind of pouch under the tongue, from 

 whence it is picked up by that organ, and cracked, grain by grain, 

 until the creature's appetite is satisfied, for it is not a large eater; 

 but, one the contrary, appears to require much less food than from its 

 size might have been supposed. It drinks freely, and is fond of 

 splashing itself with water. 



The tips of the crest feathers have a backward inclination, like those 

 of the Moluccan Cockatoos; while those of the Australian Plyctolojphi, 

 on the contrary, bend forwards. 



This bird has few points in common with the other Cockatoos, and 

 is quite correctly classed as the one species of a distant genus. There 

 is no very appreciable difference between the plumage and appearance 

 of the male and female, though the latter would appear to have a 

 lesser extent of bare skin on the face, and to be of somewhat smaller 

 size. 



The young are said to resemble their parents, with the exception 

 that in the former the beak is of a light yellowish horn-grey, and has 

 the point less developed, and the feathers on the belly, and vent, the 

 inner wing coverts, and the under tail coverts are streaked with faint 

 yellowish lines; but these are points requiring comfirmation before they 

 can be implicitly accepted as actual facts. 



When sitting in a meditative attitude, as it sometimes does, or when 

 it is asleep, the bare cheeks of the Aratoo are covered by the feathers 

 on the sides of the head; which the bird has the power of using as 

 a mask for its naked face; so that on the whole it may be looked 

 upon as a very human bird, blushing and hiding its face like a bashful 

 girl; but there assuredly the analogy ceases. 



It does not talk, neither does it make a great deal of noise, though 

 it can scream of course, for it would not be a Parrot, much less a 

 Cockatoo, if it could not do so; and lustily, when occasion demanded. 

 Happily, however, it does not appear to be possessed of any inordinate 

 desire to let its voice be heard; but must, on the contrary, be 



