30 
Slunbeb-billeb cockatoo. 
one than we used to have: but to generalize from particulars is bad 
logic, and, as we have already remarked in this connection, birds have 
their several idiosyncrasies as well as ourselves, and vary as much in 
their respective characters and dispositions as men do. 
These birds have the recommendation of being extremely hardy, and 
care nothing for the inclemencies of our severest winters, roosting 
preferably out of doors, when in a garden aviary, to seeking the 
covered-in portion of their abode: in the matter of their diseases we 
are quite without experience, for we have never seen one of them ill, 
and believe that they are among the most enduring of their race. 
In addition to the Port Bssington Slender-bill, there is a larger bird 
of the same description that is a native of the Islands to the north 
of Australia; it is occasionally to be met with in captivity, but is very 
generally confounded with the species under consideration, from which 
it differs in no other respect than size. An individual of this variety, 
the divergence of type is not sufficient to constitute it a distinct species, 
that once came under our notice, seemed a very intelligent quiet old 
fellow : he had passed a good many years in captivity in a round Parrot- 
cage, and had probably out-lived his recollections of a free life in the 
woods and forests of his native isle, for often as we have been in his 
company, we never heard him scream, and his disposition, at all times, 
was the same, placid and apparently contented: he seemed to derive 
much pleasure and satisfaction from having his head scratched, and 
would remain under the operation as long as his visitor had the patience 
to rub, first one side, and then the other of his ^^poll.^^ Ho was not 
much of a linguist, was “Cocky”; his own name, and the monosyllable 
“Well?” uttered interrogatively, was about the extent of his accom- 
plishments in this direction: but his quietude and amiability, in spite 
of his ungainly appearance, for when all has been said and done, the 
Slender-billed Cockatoo is not a pretty bird, almost made us envy his 
owner his possession; for at that time our great pet, and first favourite, 
was a splendid Goffin, who was noisy and talkative to an extreme degree, 
and the contrast between the two was remarkable. 
Gofifin’s beauty, however, more than counterbalanced his noisiness in 
our estimation, and the great Slender-billed one’s ugliness could not 
be overlooked, even for the sake of his amiable docility. So true it is, 
that, in this world, appearance, if not exactly everything, goes a long 
way towards getting the fortunate possessor excused a number of not 
always minor faults. 
During the breeding season the Slender-billed Cockatoos separate 
into pairs, making their home in the hollow branches of the loftiest 
gum-trees they can find; we remember once seeing several of them 
