2 IB 
NATURAL HISTORY 
Cockatoo. (PL 35.) The cockatoo is a beautiful bird 
of the parrot kind: his plumage is white, his beak round 
and crooked, and his head is adorned w^th a crest of long 
feathers, which is capable of being erected or lowered at 
pleasure, and gives the bird a most striking fine appear- 
ance. It is a native of the Molucca islands and other parts 
of the East-Indies, where it is frequently known to build 
on the tops of houses. Like the rest of the parrot kind, 
it is capable of uttering sea-phrases and sentences, with 
equal propriety of tone and volubility. 
Blackcap. (PI. 35.) This bird is somewhat above five 
inches in length. The upper mandible is of a dark horn 
colour; the under one light blue, and the edges of both 
whitish: the top of the head black, sides of the head and 
back of the neck ash-colour; back and wings of an olive 
gray; the throat and breast are of a silvery gray; belly 
white; the legs are of a bluish colour, inclining to a brown; 
the claws black. The head of the female is of a dull 
rust colour. 
The black cap visits England about the middle of April, 
and retires in September; it frequents gardens, and builds 
its nest near the ground; it is composed of dried grass, 
moss, and wool, and lined with hair and feathers. The 
female lays five eggs, of a pale reddish brown, sprinkled 
with spots of a darker colour. During the time of incu- 
bation the male attends the female, and sits by turns; he 
likewise procures her food, such as flies, worms, and in- 
sects. This bird sings sweetly, and so like the nightin- 
gale, that in Norfolk it is called the mock-nightingale. 
Black-caps feed chiefly on flies and insects, and not 
unfrequently on ivy and other berries. 
Wagtail. (PI. 35.) This is a slender bodied bird, 
that weighs about six drachms, and is about seven inches 
and a half from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail, 
and about eleven from the point of each wing, when ex- 
tended. It has a slender, straight, sharp bill, of a black 
or dusky colour, upwards of an inch long: the circles of 
the eyes brown, or hazel-coloured, with a large white 
spot encircling each eye; and another or two underneath 
it, on each side of the throat; the top of the head and the 
