BLACK COCKATOO. 
Batey’s (Emu, Vol. VII., p. 11, 1907) recollections read: “From 1846 to, 
say, 1850, a constant visitor on Jackson’s Creek (Victoria), which it followed 
down in quest of wattle grubs. Last seen on Emu Bottom, some three or 
four miles up stream. Of recent years saw one near Gisborne, and lately 
heard it is found in the forest country between Bullengarook West and 
Mt. Macedon. Old teamsters stated it was a precursor of bad weather.” 
In the same volume, p. 21 concerning the Ararat District, Victoria, 
G. F. Hill remarked: “Usually found in the mountains, but during the 
summer may be seen in any part of the district in search of the larvae of 
certain beetles which bore into the branches of the Casuarina trees. A cluster 
of Pinus insignis trees growing close to a house was visited periodically by 
a flock of these Cockatoos, and the cones torn open to extract the seed which 
they contained.” 
Capt. S. A. White, recording the Birds of Mallacoota, Victoria (Emu, 
Vol. XIV., p. 138, 1915), suggested these were large birds by the use of the 
name “(7. funereus funereus” and wrote: “A good many of these birds 
were met with near the sand-dunes along the coast. Three specimens came 
under the notice of the writer — an adult female and two immature males. 
They seem to agree with the Queensland and New South Wales birds both 
in size and coloration. The immature males, which would be between one 
and two years old, resemble the female in coloration. The yellow of the tail 
of the older bird of the two is speckled over with dark specks ; the other is 
heavily blotched. Their bills, like that of the female, are nearly white. The 
stomachs contained banksia, casuarina, and grass seeds, the latter principally 
the seeds of a flat-leaved plant growing on the sand-dunes.” 
North, in the Austr. Mus. Spec. Gat. No. 1, Vol. III., p. 58, et seq., 1911, 
has a number of notes mainly relating to the nidification of the species, but I 
quote the following of more general interest : “ It is the only species (of 
Black Cockatoos) inhabiting the neighbourhood of Sydney, and it may be 
found all the year about the upper parts of Middle Harbour. . . . Usually 
they are seen in pairs or small flocks of four or five individuals, but on the 
28th August, 1900, I counted twenty as they flew over my house at Roseville, 
the largest number I have ever seen in this locality. On the 15th February, 
1909, a flock of eight also flew over. They have a slow, laboured flight, and 
when on the wing is the time they usually utter their somewhat weak but 
harsh and discordant cries, which may, nevertheless, be heard a long distance 
away. Their notes, when once heard, are not easily mistaken for any other 
species. These birds breed about Middle Harbour, for in August, 1908, I 
saw a pair attending to the wants of a young one. Usually they are shy and 
wary and difficult of approach, but occasionally I have, without any 
143 
