Part 9

The extent of range enjoyed by the Calyptorhynchus naso I have not been able to ascertain; its great stronghold appears to be the colony of Swan River, where it inhabits all parts of the country. As might be expected, its habits and economy closely resemble those of the other members of the genus. Except in the breeding-season, when it pairs, it may often be observed in companies of from six to fifteen in number.

It breeds in the holes of trees, making no nest, but merely collecting the soft dead wood on which to deposit its eggs, which are generally placed in trees so difficult of access that even the natives dislike to climb them. The eggs are four or five in number; the four given to Mr. Gilbert by the son of the colonial chaplain were taken by a native from a hole in a very high white gum-tree, in the last week of October; they are white, one inch and eight lines long by one inch and four lines broad.

It flies slowly and heavily, and while on the wing utters a very harsh and grating cry, resembling the native name.

The stomach is membranous and capacious, and the food of those examined contained seeds of the Eucalypti, Banksiæ, &c.

The sexes, which differ considerably in colour, may be thus described:—

The male has the entire plumage glossy greenish black; lateral tail-feathers, except the external web of the outer one, crossed by a broad band of fine scarlet; irides dark blackish brown; bill bluish lead-colour, becoming much paler on the under side of the lower mandible; feet brownish black, with a leaden tinge.

The female has the upper surface similar to, but not so rich as, that of the male, and has an irregularly shaped spot of yellowish white near the tip of each of the feathers of the head, crest, cheeks and wing-coverts; the under surface brownish black, crossed by numerous narrow irregular bars of dull sulphur-yellow; the under tail-coverts crossed by several irregular bars of mingled yellow and dull scarlet; the lateral tail-feathers dull scarlet, fading into yellow on the base of the inner webs, and crossed by numerous irregular bars of black, which are narrow at the base of the feathers and gradually increase in breadth towards the tip.

The Plate represents the two sexes about two-thirds of the natural size.

CALYPTORHYNCHUS LEACHII.

J. Gould and H.C. Richter del et lith. Hullmandel & Walton Imp. ]

CALYPTORHYNCHUS LEACHII. Leach’s Cockatoo.

Psittacus Banksii, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. i. p. 107. variety β.

Banksian Cockatoo, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 91 A.—White’s Journ., pl. in p. 139.—Phil. Bot. Bay, pl. in p. 267.—Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. ii. p. 200 A.

Psittacus Cookii, Temm. in Linn. Trans., vol. xiii. p. 111.

———— Solandri, Temm. in Linn. Trans., vol. xiii. p. 113.

Solander’s Cockatoo, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. ii. p. 201.

Cook’s Cockatoo, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. ii. p. 201.

Psittacus Leachii, Kuhl, Consp. Psitt, in Nov. Acta, vol. x. p. 91. pl. 3.

———— Temminckii, Kuhl, Consp. Psitt, in Nov. Acta, vol. x. p. 89.

Calyptorhynchus Cookii, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 272.

———— Solandri, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 274.

———— Leachii, Wagl. Mon. Psitt, in Abhand., vol. i. p. 683.

———— Temminckii, Wagl. Mon. Psitt, in Abhand., vol. i. p. 684.

———— stellatus, Selb. in Nat. Lib. Orn., vol. vi. Parrots, p. 134. pl. 15.

Carat, Aborigines of New South Wales.

The Calyptorhynchus Leachii is the least species of the genus yet discovered, and independently of its smaller size, it may be distinguished from its congeners by the more swollen and gibbose form of its bill. Its native habitat is New South Wales and South Australia. I obtained specimens of it on the Lower Namoi, more than three hundred miles in the interior; and the cedar brushes of the Liverpool range, Mr. Charles Throsby’s park at Bong-bong, and the sides of the creeks of the Upper Hunter, were also among the places in which I killed it. So invariably did I find it among the Casuarinæ, that those trees appeared to be as essential to its existence as the Banksiæ are to that of some species of Honey-eater. The crops of those I killed were invariably filled with the seeds of the trees in question. Its disposition is less shy and distrusting than those of the Calyptorhynchi Banksii and funereus, but little stratagem being required to get within gun-shot; when one is killed or wounded, the rest of the flock either fly around or perch on the neighbouring trees, and every one may be procured. It has the feeble, whining call of the other members of the genus. Its flight is laboured and heavy; but when it is necessary for it to pass to a distant part of the country, it mounts high in the air and sustains a flight of many miles.

It is not unusual to find individuals of this species with yellow feathers on the cheeks and other parts of the head; this variation I am unable to account for; it is evidently subject to no law, as it frequently happens that six or eight may be seen together without one of them exhibiting this mark, while on the contrary a like number may be encountered with two or three of them thus distinguished. To this circumstance, and to the variation in the colouring of the tail-feathers of the two sexes, may be attributed the voluminous list of synonyms pertaining to this species.

Why living examples of the members of this genus have not as yet reached Europe, is not easily to be accounted for. I found no difficulty in keeping a winged bird alive for a short time, and I doubt not that were the attempt made, it might be easily introduced to our aviaries; the real cause probably is the extreme difficulty of procuring young individuals, the breeding-place selected by the bird being holes in the highest trees situated in the most remote parts of the forests, where none but the Aborigines are likely to discover or able to procure them.