" Cookie." 
(44) THE BIRD WORLD. 
length, they have brought the bones of the 
feathers they supported close together in 
the fan-wise fashion we have just described. 
Here, then, we have a lesson in the evo¬ 
lution of birds; a transformation which will go 
far to help towards realising how similar 
changes could bring about the evolution of the 
.reptile into the bird. Some day, without doubt, 
some yet older form of bird will be discovered, 
and th(s will show yet more reptilian charac¬ 
ters. 
HOW SPECIES ARE EVOLVED. 
The theory that birds have descended from 
reptiles is no baseless assumption, but a well- 
founded deduction, a conclusion that will pre¬ 
sent no difficulties to those who are familiar 
with bird-breeding. For just as it is possible to 
say, in hybrids, for example, that such and such 
a character must be the outcome of such and 
such a cross, must have been inherited from this 
or that particular species or race, so we con¬ 
clude that more deeply-seated characters have 
been derived in a similar way, from ancestors 
in which this particular character was specially 
well developed. The expert in mule-breeding, 
for example, has no difficulty, no hesitation, 
in assigning the peculiarities of the mule to one 
or other of the parent forms. He would scoff 
at the suggestion of special creation, and the 
same arguments apply to the wider issues now 
under discussion. 
*£OCKIE 
whose 
portrait ap- 
pears on this 
page, is a bold* 
handsome 
bird* with 
beautifully 
clean white 
body feathers, 
his head sur- 
mounted by a 
sulphur-colour- 
ed crest. The 
underneath 
part of his 
wings and tail 
are also sul¬ 
phur coloured. 
He is a strik¬ 
ing object as 
he comes sail¬ 
ing through 
the air, with 
a spread of 
wings of about 
3 feet, and is 
so tame that 
he will alight 
on one shoul¬ 
der and perch 
there quite 
contentedly. 
Unfortunately 
he cannot talk 
(only a discor¬ 
dant screech), 
but can whis¬ 
tle beautifully. 
Up to a short 
time ago, he 
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo 
obeyed his 
own sweet 
will with re¬ 
gard to flying 
loose, but his 
depredations 
on the garden 
peas (of which 
he is veryfond) 
caused the cur¬ 
tailment of his 
liberty, and 
now he is only 
allowed loose 
occasionally. 
The way he 
posed to have 
his photograph 
t aken was 
splendid, and 
would have 
done credit to 
a human 
being. 
The photo¬ 
graph is orig¬ 
inal, and was 
taken specially 
for “Cage 
Birds ” photo¬ 
graphic com¬ 
petition in 
which it 
secured first 
prize and spe¬ 
cial. — Donald 
Kendall, Jr., 
Fir Tree 
House, Higher 
Bebington, 
Ches. 
