CRESTED COCKATOO. 83 
loud screeches, and away go the whole flock. It lives 4 number of 
years in an aviary or in a cage, and is fond of being noticed. It 
may be taught to say a few words which it hears often repeated, It 
utters them in a harsh tone. 
Cockatoos and the Blacks.—Sir Geo. Grey, in the account of his 
explorations in north-west Australia, when relating the dangers he 
experienced from the blacks, wrote thus:—‘‘A large flock of 
cockatoos which lay between us and the natives flew off. Their 
departure was a serious loss to us, as they played somewhat the 
same part that the geese once did in the Capitol (of Rome), for 
whenever our sable neighbours made the slightest movement, the 
watchful sentinels of the cockatoos instantly detected it, and by 
stretching out their crests, screaming, standing on their toes on the 
highest trees, with their wings spread abroad to support them, and 
peering eagerly in the direction where the movement was made. 
they gave us a faithful intimation of every movement of the hostile 
blacks.” Dr. Bennett says :—‘‘ I saw one of the Yass blacks throw 
his boomerang at a cockatoo perched upon a tree at a considerable 
distance ; it struck the bird and killed it.” He states that they 
drive the bird towards a spot clear of trees, where the men 
are waiting. When the cockatoos are flying over this, the boome- 
rang sweeps wildly and uncertainly through the air, and so eccentric 
are its motions, that it requires but a slight stretch of the imagina- 
tion to fancy it endowed with life. With fell swoops it is in 
pursuit of the birds, some of which are certain to be brought 
screaming to the earth. They throw several boomerangs among a 
flock, A writer on Queensland, describing the warriors of a tribe, 
says :—‘‘ Their heads were covered with the elegant yellow and 
white topknots of the white cockatoos. Each man wore at least 
forty of these, which were fastened in his hair with beeswax, and 
gave the head the appearance of a large aster.” 
Nidification.—It resorts to the hollow branches or boles of trees 
to nest and deposit its eggs, which are two in number; they are 
laid on the decaying wood usually found in such places. .The eggs 
are pure white, and vary in form from oval to pointed oval. August 
and the three following months constitute the breeding season of 
this species, The egg is 1°65 inches long, and 1:21 inches broad. 
Food.—Cockatoos feed on seeds, grain, native bread, small 
tuberous and bulbous roots. In Queensland they dig up with their 
beaks roots of a grass, of which they are very fond. 
Where found.—The cockatoo is an inhabitant of the whole of 
Australia and Tasmania. 
Great Grey KancAroo—Macropus major, 
Discovery.—TVhe great kangaroo was discovered, in 1770, during 
Cook's first voyage, whilst that celebrated navigator was stationed 
at Endeavour River to repair his vessel, which was in a very 
dangerous condition, having struck on a rock, and, indeed, was 
only saved by a portion of the rock which broke off, and in a great 
