COCKATOOS. 
io 5 
this bird is found; and the manner in which it gets at these seeds shows a 
■correlation of structure and habits, which would point out the kanary as its special 
food. The shell of this nut is so excessively hard that only a heavy hammer will 
crack it; it is somewhat triangular, and the outside is quite smooth. The manner 
in which the bird opens these nuts is very curious. Taking one endways in its 
bill, and keeping it linn by a pressure of the tongue, it cuts a transverse notch by 
a lateral sawing motion of the sharp-edged lower mandible. This done, it takes 
hold of the nut with its foot, and, biting off a piece of leaf, retains it in the deep 
notch of the upper mandible, and, again seizing the nut, which is prevented from 
slipping by the elastic tissue of the leaf, fixes the edge of the lower mandible in 
the notch, and by a powerful nip breaks off a piece of the shell. Again taking the 
nut in its claws, it inserts the very long and sharp point of the bill and picks out 
the kernel, which is seized hold of, morsel by morsel, by the extensile tongue. 
Thus every detail of form and structure in the extraordinary bill of this bird 
seems to have its use, and we may easily conceive that the black cockatoos have 
maintained themselves in competition with their more active and more numerous 
white allies by their power of existing on a kind of food which no other bird is 
able to extract from its stony shell.” Dr. Guillemard adds that in New Guinea it 
is extremely difficult to obtain these birds alive, and that when in captivity their 
movements are slow and clumsy in the extreme. Moreover, as the pectoral muscles 
are small and meagre, when compared to the enormous head and beak, it is probable 
that these cockatoos resort to flight as seldom as possible. 
Raven- Under the general name of raven-cockatoos may be included a 
Cockatoos, group of seven species, which, while agreeing with the last in their 
black or brown coloration, are distinguished by their completely-feathered cheeks, 
the more ordinary form of the beak, and the shorter and broader feathers of the 
chest. Of this group the Banksian cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus banksi), represented 
in the upper portion of our plate, may be taken as a well-known example. In all 
these birds the tail-feathers are rather long, with the middle ones shorter than 
those on the sides, and they are crossed by a light-coloured transverse band. The 
beak is characterised by its shortness and depth, and its highly-curved profile. 
The whole seven species are confined to Australia. The Banksian cockatoo 
belongs to a group of four species in which there is no light-coloured patch 
on the ear-coverts; while in the adult males the band on the tail is red, 
although more or less tinged with yellow in the young and perhaps in females 
of all ages. On the other hand, in the second group, of which the funereal 
cockatoo (C. funereus ) is a well-known representative, the ear-coverts are marked 
by a yellow or white patch, while the tail-band is of one of these two tints at all 
ages. The Banksian cockatoo, which measures 24 inches in total length, has 
the general colour of a greenish black, with a vermilion tail-band. It is confined 
to Eastern Australia. Writing of a South Australian species (C. xcinthonotus) 
belonging to the group with a yellow tail-band, the “ Old Bushman ” observes that 
it “ was common in our forests from about December, when the old and young 
birds came down from their breeding-places, and remained with us during the 
winter. They did not breed in our neighbourhood [near Port Phillip]; but I think 
they went to nest very early, for I once shot a female in May with a large egg in 
