. The royal natural history. surface of the body of a brilliant full rose-colour, and the upper-partsgrey, the crown of the head being pale rosy white. It is widely distributed inAustralia, and measures 14 inches in total length. The blood-stained cockatoo () is from North Australia. All the cockatoos of this group are gregarious, some of thespecies, like the greater sulphur-crest, associating in innnense flocks; /? t\ * , HEAD OF BLOOD-STAINED COCKATOO. (From Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1871.) Habits. io8 PARROTS. and those who liave seen these birds soaring over the trees
. The royal natural history. surface of the body of a brilliant full rose-colour, and the upper-partsgrey, the crown of the head being pale rosy white. It is widely distributed inAustralia, and measures 14 inches in total length. The blood-stained cockatoo () is from North Australia. All the cockatoos of this group are gregarious, some of thespecies, like the greater sulphur-crest, associating in innnense flocks; /? t\ * , HEAD OF BLOOD-STAINED COCKATOO. (From Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1871.) Habits. io8 PARROTS. and those who liave seen these birds soaring over the trees of an Australian forestbear testimony to the beauty of the spectacle. At times they will ascend in thesky, during the full blaze of a tropical noon, far above the range of the unaidedhuman vision, while at others they may be seen scattered so thickly over a heldas to give almost the appearance of a coating of snow. Some years ago it wasattempted to naturalise these birds in the woods of Norfolk, but the attempt was ,C ^rhP. ROSE-CRESTED COCKATOO (j Uilt. size) to a great extent rendered abortive tlirough their wandering habits, whereby manyfell victims to the guns of the idlers of the neighbourhood. When flying at sucha height in the air as to be invisible to the naked eye, the whereabouts of theflock of great white cockatoos is often revealed on a calm day by the sound of thecharacteristic cry from which these birds derive their name. This repetition ofthe syllables cockatoo-cockato is the ordinary cry of that species, but the harsh,screaming yell, denoting anger or surprise, is only too well known to all who havekept these birds as pets. Their food consists mainly of seeds, but it is probable COCKATOOS. 109 that in the wild state hxrva; of insects form a considerable portion of the diet ofmany of the species, as in captivity the}^ will readily eat both gnats and most of the parrot tribe, cockatoos do little or nothing in the way of nest-making, generally laying the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booksubjectzoology
