GANG-GANG COCKATOO. 133 



Meerschweinchen getodtet und gefressen hatte, und Pfarrer Snell, der 

 dies mittheilt, hebt hervor, dass, obschon nichts absonderliches darin 

 liege, wenn Papageien Fleisch fressen, hier vornamlich die Todtung 

 des kleinen Wagers durch den Kakadu auffallend erscheine." 



"Whicli we thus translate: "Dr. Hasskarl Had an extraordinary- 

 experience in the Zoological Gardens of Buitenzorg, in the island of 

 Java, in the year 1842; where a black Cockatoo with a red head was 

 taken, that on several occasions killed and ate guinea-pigs; and Pastor 

 Snell, who relates the story, further adds that although there would 

 be nothing remarkable in that, if Parrots ate flesh; yet the before- 

 mentioned killing of the little rodents by a Cockatoo, must appear 

 very strange/' 



It is possible, of course, that the above black Cockatoo with the red 

 head may not have been a Ganga, but some other kind of bird; but 

 it must nevertheless be borne in mind that, in captivity at all events, 

 some of the Psittaci will kill small birds and animals, if they get 

 the chance; their natural vegetarian appetite changing to one for a 

 carnivorous diet. Thus a dear old Goffin we once possessed killed and 

 partially ate a truant Canary that wandered into his cage; and the 

 reported partiality of Nestor notabilis for mutton, dead or alive, are 

 cases in point. 



But how did a Tasmanian, or at least a Southern Australian Cockatoo 

 get to Java? The distance is immense, and the climate so different, 

 that it is almost impossible the guinea-pig killer, if really a Ganga, 

 could have arrived at Buitenzorg of its own accord, but must have 

 been conveyed thither by some one, from whose custody it afterwards 

 escaped, which would account for its cannibalistic proclivities. 



Almost daily we receive communications from persons whose Parrots 

 or Cockatoos are suffering in various ways, in consequence of having 

 been fed with "all sorts of scraps (including meat) from the table '% 

 and we regret to say that our Goffin had been thus indulged before 

 passing into our keeping, which might perhaps account for his repre- 

 hensible conduct with regard to poor little Yellow Feathers; while as 

 to Nestor, we confess, we are at a loss to account for his perverted sense 

 otherwise than by assuming him to have been driven by sheer want 

 to the commission of deeds that have made his name a bye-word in 

 New Zealand, and must bring about his extermination at no distant 

 date, as we have related when treating of that curious bird. 



"Are bacon and ham bad for a Parrot?" recently enquired an 

 innocent correspondent, adding, "because I have been told that is the 

 reason my Polly has taken to pulling out her feathers, and biting 

 herself, until she makes herself bleed." 



