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THE LAND OF COCKATOOS. 
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feathers. The earliest notice of this bird occurs in the graphic narra- 
tive of the old sea-rover Dampier ; at a later date a few specimens were 
brought to Holland ; and of recent years they have found their way 
into most amateur collections. In New Guinea, says Wallace, the rarity 
of birds of prey and of the larger reptiles has facilitated the multiplica- 
tion of the goura. He favours the forest glades, spending most of his 
time on the ground, and feeding upon fallen fruit; he uses his wings 
only when disturbed, or to seek a roosting-place on some low branch. 
AUSTRALIA. 
Australia is pre-eminently the realm of the cockatoos. And, 
indeed, it is pre-eminently the paradise of birds. It has been well said 
that its mammals are comparatively insignificant creatures, with the 
exception of such as are abnormal ; moreover, they are few in number ; 
but the Bird World is abundantly represented, and represented by some 
of its most original and interesting types. Of the many families belong- 
ing to it and to the adjacent islands, none are more important or char- 
acteristic than that of the parrakeets. Among the green foliage of the 
gum-trees cockatoos sparkle like living flowers; the rose-coloured parra- 
keets display their scarlet plumage among the yellow-bloomed acacias. 
The bright-hued lories hover about the "honey-sweet blossoms;" while 
even the great wastes of the interior are enlivened by some members of 
this wide-spread family. In Australia the parrakeets, as in Europe the 
swallows, fly about the streets of the towns and villages, or, like the 
sparrows, infest the roofs and courtyards of the houses. When the 
Australian farmer garners his harvest, hundreds of these birds throng 
in front of his barns, and hunt among the straw for such ears of corn 
as may have escaped the flail. To the traveller the spectacle is very 
pleasing ; but the farmer has vowed a vow of hatred, as deep as that of 
Cato's against Carthage, and slaughters the feathered pilferers without 
pity and without remorse. 
Several species of cockatoos, unlike that which we have just 
described, live together in very numerous communities. Making their 
home in the forest-depths, they sally forth to traverse the plains and 
fields in search of food. In the midst of the deepest obscurity of the 
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