WHITE-TAILED BLACK COCKATOO. 
the outer tail-feathers dull white except the outer edges and shafts, which are 
blackish ; crown of head and nuchal crest uniform blackish like the ; ides of the 
face and throat ; ear-coverts pale straw-yellow ; breast, abdomen, sides of the 
body, under tail-coverts, axillaries, and under wing-coverts dark brown with pale 
edgings to the tips of the feathers. Iris hazel, orbits yellowish-white ; feet 
yellowish horn : bill pearly-white, with the tips of mandibles dark horn. Total 
length 666 mm. ; culmen 56, wing 367, tail 270, tarsus 27. Figured. Collected 
at Wandering, South-west Australia. 
Adult male. Similar to the adult female, but slightly larger. 
Immature appear to take on the adult plumage from the nest. 
Nest. A hole in a tree. 
Eggs. Clutch, two ; white. 48 by 35 mm. 
Breeding-season. August to October. 
Until Lear in 1832 figured this beautiful bird, it does not seem to have been 
noted by any writer or collector. Gould’s notes made soon afterward are 
here quoted : “ This species, which is a native of Western Australia, is 
distinguished from all the other known members of the group by its smaller 
size and by the white markings of its tail-feathers. It belongs to that section 
of the Black Cockatoos in which a similarity of marking characterizes both 
sexes, such as Calyptorhyndius funereus and xanthonotus. Like the other 
members of the genus, it frequents the large forests of Eucalypti and the belts 
of Banksice, upon the seeds of which it mainly subsists ; occasionally it seeks 
its food on the ground, when insects, fallen seeds, &c., are equally partaken 
of ; the larvae of moths and other insects are also extracted by it from the 
trunks and limbs of such trees as are infested by them. Its flight is heavy 
and apparently laboured ; when on the wing it frequently utters a note very 
similar to its aboriginal name (Oo-laak) : at other times, when perched on 
the trees, it emits a harsh croaking sound, which is kept up all the time the 
bird is feeding.” 
Mr. Tom Carter has contributed the following observations: yThis 
is the common Cockatoo of south-west Australia, and is found as far north 
as the Murchison Liver. They associate in flocks when the breeding-season 
is over, flying rather slowly with a flapping flight, and constantly uttering 
their rather mournful piping note, which resembles the word Oo-lack, which 
is the aboriginal name for them in the extreme south-west and about Broome 
Hill. They feed largely on the seeds of the Red Gum trees, to obtain which 
they bite and tear open with their powerful beaks the very hard nuts that 
contain them. At times a flock will settle in an orchard, and do great damage 
in a very short time to the buds and young shoots of the trees. In the 
winter months they fly about in flocks in a very restless manner, before a 
spell of wild and wet weather. 
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