BANKSIAN COCKATOO. 
banski, which is also the type of the genus. In addition, too, intermediate 
stages of plumage are found between these described forms, as well as 
variations, even when obtained in the same locality. I freely acknowledge, 
however, that one can occasionally pick specimens from South-western 
Australia, and Northern and North-western Australia, agreeing with both of 
these described forms, Calyptorhynchus stellatus and C. macrorhynchus .” 
Extra Australian workers have been also puzzled, as the three following 
items will show. Hartert, in the Nov. Zool ., Vol. XII., p. 212, 1905, recorded 
Calyptorhynchus banksi macrorhynchus with the remarks : “It seems, indeed, 
that the specimens from North-west Australia have larger bills than 
those from Queensland and New South Wales, but the specimens from 
Rockingham Bay belong to the latter, smaller-billed race, and not to 
macrorhynchus. ’ ’ 
Ogilvie-Grant in the Ibis, 1910, p. 165, wrote : “ Calyptorhynchus stellatus. 
Clifton Downs (West Australia). I am quite uncertain what name to apply 
to this immature bird. It seems doubtful whether C. stellatus is really 
distinct from C. macrorhynchus Gould and C. banksi Lath.” 
In the Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1898, p. 355, Collett contributed the 
following discussion : “ Calyptorhynchus stellatus. One specimen, adult 
female, Roebuck Bay, North-west Australia, 20th November, 1895. Length 
of wing 378-380 millim., tail 244 ; culmen 40 ; genys 26. The only 
specimen procured is a female. It differs from the females of the larger 
species ( C . banksi and macrorhynchus) in being wholly black (bluish-black 
above, more greenish below) without spots or bars. The tail resembles that 
of the female of the larger species, the feathers having the coloured parts 
mingled with yellow and scarlet ; the lower wing -coverts are spotted. The 
bill is blackish, with paler margins. The question as to whether the nearly 
allied forms of black Cockatoos — C. banksi (Lath.) 1790, C. macrorhynchus 
Gould 1847, and C. stellatus Wagl. 1832 — are to be regarded as distinct and 
separate species does not appear as yet to have been cleared up. The 
University Museum of Christiania possesses several specimens of the larger 
forms, three of them having been obtained in Queensland by Dr. Lumholtz 
in June, 1882 (two males and a female). In addition to these, three specimens 
(two females and a male) were collected by Dr. Dahl in 1894-95 in three 
different parts of Arnhem Land (S. Alligator River, Mt. Showbridge and 
Howard Creek). 
There is no observable difference between the specimens from Queensland 
and N. Australia as regards size, colouring, length of the crest, length of the 
wing, tail, etc., the bill alone being considerably larger in all three specimens 
117 
