PLATE XV. 
CALYPT( )RH YNCHUS MACRO RH YNCHUS. {Gould.) 
GREAT-BILLED BLACK COCKATOO. Genus: Calyptorhynchus. 
OP the seven species representing this genns, the Calyptorhynchus Macrorhyuchus is the largest, measuring 
twenty-two inches in length, and the acutely-hooked bill is one inch and a-half long by three inches wide. 
Although found to inhabit only the Northern part of the Continent, and then in restricted localities, the 
Calyptorhynchus Macrorhynchm is, nevertheless, closely allied to the Black Cockatoo of the South Coast, merely 
differing from it in the larger development of its bill, which is a provision of nature to enable it to obtain a 
special kind of food. 
The female has the peculiarity of differing entirely from the male in colour, and for this reason the 
plate opposite shows the female of the Calyptorhynchus Macrorhynchus rather than the male, which is exactly 
like the Calyptorhynchus Naso, except in the colour of the bill, which is of a horny tinge instead of bluish grey. 
The plumage of the male is a bluish black ; the lateral tail feathers, with the exception of the external 
web of the outer ones are crossed by a broad band of scarlet ; bill, horn colour ; irides, blackish brown ; feet, 
nearly blackish brown. 
The female has a general colouring on the upper part of the body of blackish brown, and the whole 
of the under part is burnt umber, tinged with yellowish buff; the lateral tail feathers crossed on the under 
surface by irregular bands of yellowish buff, freckled with black ; on the upper surface these bands are bright 
yellow at the base of the tail, and gradually merge into bright scarlet towards the tip ; irides, blackish brown. 
Habitats : Port Darwin, Port Essington, Norman River, Gulf of Carpentaria, Cape York, and 
Rockingham Bay (Queensland). 
CALYPTORHYNCHUS NASO. {Gould.) 
WESTERN BLACK COCKATOO. Genus: Calyptorhynchus. 
THE recognised habitat of this bird is Western Australia, though the range is not strictly confined to the 
one territory, for it has been found as far east as South Australia. At all times, except during the breeding 
season, it may be seen in companies of from six to fifteen, flying slowly from tree to tree, and while on the 
wing it utters a harsh grating cry not unlike the sound of the name " Banal Banal " bestowed on it by the 
natives. 
Eor food the Black Cockatoo depends upon the seeds of the Eucalypti and Bauksice, materials of such 
a hard astringent nature that the presence of a strong membranous stomach is at once recognised as indispensable. 
It is, however, by no means averse to cereals to vary its food, especially Indian corn, which it attacks with such 
destructive vigour just as the bursting husk reveals the ripened cob, that the farmers regard it as one of the 
most destructive enemies they have, and are obliged to resort to an organised mode of defence to save their crops. 
In common with all its genus, this Cockatoo nests high up in the bole of a dead limb in some gigantic 
gum-tree, far out of the reach of the prying white man's eyes — so high that even the natives in their palmy days 
could not be tempted to climb to the well-nigh inaccessible spot. Naturally it follows that none but the most 
meagre information has been gleaned of its mode of nidification. Erom evidence gathered by investigating 
fallen trees, it would seem that the nest is made of the soft crumbling dead wood found in the hollow, on which 
two snoAv white eggs are deposited during the latter end of August or early in September. 
