Soyne Experiences of Guckaloos. 
255 
yellow and dusky red, and her tail bar was yellowish -red 
freckled with Ijlaek. She was very sociable, but inclined 
to gel, " hufly " if crossed in any way and she had a great 
objection to being interrupted at her meals or to lieing ap- 
proached by a person wearing a white apron. Toby and 
Yalla-yalla were two big birds, apparently belonging to the 
tireat-I)illed race (C. macrorhi/ncluts) . They were much like 
Timmie in colour and markings, but liad little or no red in 
their plumage. They were rather shy in disposition .and 
although they would feed from the hand when hungry would 
never consent to perch on one's arm or shoulder. 
As soon as they arrived I turned the four birds into 
a large covered aviary where they had plenty of room to move 
al)Out and use their wings. I soon noticed, rather to my 
surprise, that although he had spent (as I had been told) some 
years in their society, Teddy had not entered into anything 
resembling a matrimonial alliance with one or more of his 
companions, his attitude towards all three ladies being a mix- 
ture of timidity and indifference. It was clear, therefore, 
that unless they could be allowed a freer and more natural 
existence, the chances of l)reeding were likely to be of the 
poorest, although at first it seemed too risky to allow such 
valuable birds complete liberty, I ultimately decided that it 
was the only thing to be done. Relying on his extreme tame- 
ness and on Gould's statement that the flight of the Banksian 
is laboured and seldom of long duration. I accordingly one 
day gave directions that Teddy was to be placed in the outer 
part of the aviary, and the door left open. Going out soon 
afterwards to see how things were getting on I found 
Teddy flying round the garden in full enjoyment of his new- 
found freedom. The sight of the great bird on the wing was 
indeed striking and one which I shall certainly never forget; 
the flight of a black Cockatoo is wholly unlike that of anything 
else and although not particularly rapid, gives to my mind an 
impression of extraordinary buoyancy rather than effort. The 
long, round-tipped wings are moved with slow, swinging flaps, 
almost meeting beneath the body at each stroke, while at 
times they are bent sharply downwards and held rigid in 
marked contrast to the usual avian habit of gliding forward 
with the wings motionless and on the same plane with the 
