THE BLACK COCKATOO. 



FSITTACUS ATERIMUS LINN^US. 



PLATE 6. 



In a state of captivity, the Black Cockatoo is 

 a mild and familiar bird ; it feeds upon bread, and 

 various kinds of seeds. When approached, it raises 

 a cry, which may be compared to a hoarse croaking. 

 This cry appears to emanate from the lower part 

 of the larynx, for there is no perceptible motion in 

 the tongue to indicate its proceeding from that 

 organ. Vieillot says, " Its beak does not remain 

 always half open, as the author of the Hegne Animal 

 asserts ; for it is hermetically shut when not in 

 action." 



It is distinguished from all the other birds of the 

 family of which it is a member by the form of its 

 tongue, which M. Levaillant very aptly compares 

 to the trunk of an elephant, and which M. Geoffroy 

 Saint Hilaire has had an opportunity of observing 

 in a living individual, about which he has published 

 some interesting particulars, in a memoir, read 

 before the Royal Academy of Sciences, on the 6th 



