GLOSSY COCKATOO. 
the references of the earlier writers to the species were not clearly 
understood. 
I have given an idea of the perplexity of the case under the preceding 
species and will here consider most of the references particularly applicable. 
When Latham named Psittacus banlcsii he gave a var. / 3 , which I consider 
the immature of banlcsii , but which may not be. Later, Latham recognised 
as referable to his var. p the account given by White, which to me does not 
agree, and which is certainly the present species. He also added as a var. y 
the bird figured and described by Phillips in his “ Voyage Botany Bay.” This 
also is the present species. When Shaw proposed his Psittacus maqnificus he 
considered all the forms as one species, and I conclude that in the days of settle- 
ment at Port Jackson this species was the commonest bird, but being smaller 
in size, the rarer and larger bird was more sought after and written about. 
It has recently been known under the name Calyptorhynchus viridis as of 
Vieillot, whose specimen was probably brought back from Australia by Peron & 
Lesueur, but there is an earlier name, about which there is no doubt, as follows : 
In the Gat. Syst. Cab. d’Orn., p. 21, 1807, Temminck introduced : 
“ Psittacus lathami (Mas.) Mihi — Psittacus banksii varietas y — le cacatoe 
latham, ou cacatoe noir a queue cramoisi (Male) de la Baije Botanique — 
Bankian Cockatoo. Phyll. Bot. Bay, T. p. 166 — Lath. var. /3.” Previous to 
this, however, Kerr had named Phillips’s plate trinomially as shown in 
my synonymy, but selected a pre-occupied name. 
Phillips’ description reads : “ Bankian Cockatoo. This is about the 
size of the great white cockatoo ; the length twenty-two inches. The bill 
is exceedingly short, and of a pale lead-colour. The head feathers are pretty 
long, so as to enable the bird to erect them into a crest at will. The colour 
of the head, neck and under-parts of the body are dusky brown, inclining 
to olive, darkest on the belly ; the feathers of the top of the head and back 
part of the neck are edged with olive ; the rest of the plumage on the upper 
part of the body, the wings, and tail, are of a glossy black : the last is pretty 
long and a little rounded at the end ; the two middle feathers are wholly 
black ; the others of a fine vermilion in the middle for about one-third, 
otherwise black ; the outer edge of the exterior feather black the whole 
length. Legs black. 
“ This bird was met with in New South Wales, and is supposed to be 
a variety, if not a different sex, from the Bankian Cockatoo described in 
the General Synopsis of Birds Supplement, p. 63, pi. 109. It varies, 
however, in not having the feathers of the head or those of the wing-coverts 
marked with buff-coloured spots ; nor is the red part of the tail crossed 
with black bars, as in that bird.” 
127 
