io6 
PARROTS. 
her. They principally frequent the honeysuckles, but are often in the large gums. 
The old birds are very shy, and have a loud, hoarse call-note, or cackle. When 
they first come, they are in large flocks, and they then always frequented the large 
honeysuckles, over the tops of which they would fly, or rather float through the 
air, with a wavering kind of flight, toying and playing with each other, after the 
manner of the rook at home. As the winter advanced, they appeared to separate, 
and, although you hardly ever see a single bird, they disperse themselves much 
more generally over the forests. Their principal food appeared to be large seeds 
and grubs, and they score the young honeysuckles round with their powerful 
HEAD OF DUCORPS' COCKATOO. 
(From Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1871.) 
beaks in search for these latter as if 
cut with a knife. The young birds are 
excellent eating.” Basing his experi¬ 
ence on another species, Dr. Guil- 
lemard also vouches for the excellent 
quality of cockatoo-pie. 
The curiously- 
Ganga Cockatoo. ^ 
coloured ganga, or 
helmeted cockatoo (Callocephalum 
galeatum), of South-Eastern Australia 
and Tasmania, differs so decidedly 
from all its allies as to constitute a 
genus by itself. The tail, as in the 
two following genera, is of moderate 
length and nearly even; while the 
head and crest of the male are of a 
flaming red, and the general colour 
of the upper and under-parts grey. 
The cere is peculiar in being feathered, 
and, while the beak is horn-coloured, 
the feet are nearly black. There is 
a tinge of green on the primaries of 
the wings. The length of this cock¬ 
atoo is 13^ inches. It is a shy and 
forest-loving species, generally leading a solitary life among the topmost boughs of 
the tallest gum-trees, on the seeds of which it subsists. 
Typical With the exception of the rose-breasted species, in the typical 
Cockatoo, cockatoos, which are those generally kept as pets, the predominant 
colour of the plumage is either white or rosy white, while in the whole of them 
the upper mandible has a short hook curving downwards nearly at a right angle 
to its base. The species, fifteen in number, range over Australia and the islands 
to the north as far as the Philippines, and include the most gorgeously-coloured 
representatives of the family. The crest is subject to considerable variation 
in form and colour, such variations being of the highest importance in the 
determination of the various species. In the first place, the genus may be 
divided into two groups, according to the form of the crest. In one of these 
two main groups the crest-feathers are slender and terminate in sharp points 
