Cockatoos. 
Great Stilphur-crested Cockatoo. 
5 
Sub-family Plyetolophinae (Cockatoos). 
Genus PLYCTOLOPHUS. 
Generic Characters. —Head large and ornamented with a folding crest; bill short and broad, oilmen 
greatly arched and strong, the upper mandible forming nearly the quarter of a circle, tip narrow and 
acute, tomia toothed, base of the under mandible frequently concealed with feathers by which it appears 
higher than long, feathers growing well on to the cere in which the nostrils (large and lateral) are 
placed; cheeks plumed; wings long, first quill rather shorter than the three following, which are nearly 
of a length, and dilated about the middle ; tail rather short, even; feet robust; tarsi shorter than hallux 
and reticulated. 
Derivation of Name. —Plyctolophus ; tos (plectos), folded, \o<fios (lophos), a crest. 
The generic name given by M. Vieillot has been adopted, simply because it indicates a general 
character of the genus, and is therefore more significant than the meaningless name cacatua, 
given by Brisson and adopted by Mr. Gould, who, however, it must be confessed, is borne out by 
Mr. Gray of the British Museum, and Mr. Wood. 
GREAT SULPHUR-CRESTED COCKATOO. 
Plyctolophus Galeritus (Vieill). 
Synonyms.— Cacatua Galerita (Gould); Psittacus Galeritus (Latham and Kuhl); Cacatua chrysolophus (Less). 
Trivial Names. —Great Sulphur-crested Cockatoo; Common White Cockatoo; Helmeted Cockatoo; Lemon-crested Cockatoo, 
Aboriginal ISfames.— Can-ke (Lower Murray) ; Ty-in-nap (Wimmera); Ka-ra-way Kur-riang (East Coast); Moo-rai (Lach an) ; 
Mar-bit (Raffle’s Bay); Man-i-eh (King George’s Sound). 
Derivation of Name.— Galeritus, wearing a cap ; hence, tufted or helmeted. , 
Habitat. —Generally the whole of Australia, though it was not observed by Mr. Sturt in the mtenor to t e westwar o 
Barrier Ranges. 
ffifa . ... 
JglgLL Australians are well acquainted with this favorite and fine bird, it being umversa y 
W distributed throughout Australia. It feeds on roots, seeds, grain, and fungi; indeed, hard y 
anything of a vegetable nature seems to come amiss to it. It is most destructive to the maize 
* of the New South Wales, and to the wheat crops of the Victorian and South ustra lan 
farmers ; hundreds, indeed, even thousands, being sometimes together, the damage done p Y 
be easily imagined. In spring-time, when the wheat is young, I have known them P p 
young plants by thousands. The mere mischievous pulling up of plants seems to e a sor o rage 
with this bird; for after the most careful setting of bulbs, dividing and planting ou 
generally making the garden tidy, Master Cocky, with the quietest and most amusing, 
annoying, nonchalance , has pulled all up again. Mio-Li-v 
0® plains cleaed ,L and lightly timbered count,, seem their more favored reaorbr Mighty 
w Pen Plains, cleared iana, ana ngut y _ with their i ou d piercing 
flocks, numbering thousands—now on the ground, now rising ’ . , 
screams, and their shining white plumage,—give life to the otherwise reary region , 
speak of them, in the words of Sir Thomas Mitchell, as "sporting like spirits of light. Wherever they 
* Expedition into Central Australia , vol. i., P- 74- 
