Cockatoo

“ Now, as good luck had it, the cockatoo also had been half aroused from his sleep, and giving a faint screech, began to shift uneasily in his dreams, from one leg to the other, his chain clanking against his perch as he did so. Count Hugo hearing him, at once supposed the cockatoo responsible for that other clanking sound which had aroused him; he swore a round oath, and turned from the window, muttering to himself, “A plague on that jabbering popinjay! What with their everlasting peacocks and monkeys, and heaven only knows what, a man can not get a wink of sleep in this accursed tavern!” ”

“ The parrots and cockatoos all bowed their heads in silence as they passed by them; but as the old Doctor (who always lingers behind to bestow and catch the last smile, and take the second shake of the hand where there are ladies in question) extended his hand to the kind lady, to thank her the second and last time, there was a tremendous cry of “There! there!! there!!!” and “Cockatoo! cockatoo!”—the last of which the poor Doctor, in his confusion, had mistaken for “Chickabobboo! chickabobboo!” ”

“ Inside the parrot house is a glorious clock-bird, with its tail like a pendulum; the blue-eyed cockatoo which is in the picture, and the little green parrakeet which says, "Pretty Poll! steady!" Then here is a big grey parrot, the best talker of all, but who was so crushed by the continual noise of the others that she never speaks now.
The two cockatoos in white are familiar friends of the artist. Mr. Marks kneels down for a moment, and pretends to draw, and one of the cockatoos comes down and looks over his paper. Whatever part of the cage he goes to, they will follow him round. ”

“ The relation of this last incident reminds me of one of his most curious peculiarities, which I have not yet mentioned—his extraordinary fondness for pet animals.
Some of these he has left on the Continent, but he has brought with him to this house a cockatoo, two canary-birds, and a whole family of white mice. He attends to all the necessities of these strange favourites himself, and he has taught the creatures to be surprisingly fond of him and familiar with him. The cockatoo, a most vicious and treacherous bird towards every one else, absolutely seems to love him. ”

“ But I was only a year old at that time, and had always been a little headstrong and difficult to manage.
"As my old friend had said," continued the cockatoo, "my newly-found cousins were not long in finding out my bad qualities, and they were almost harder upon me than my own brothers had been; which caused my temper to give way again, and from being a very frank, obliging bird, I became quite a cross, ill-natured one. One day I had retired to the woods, and was sitting sulking by myself in a bush, when the old cockatoo came and perched herself on the branch [Pg 36] above me. ”

“ They were here interrupted by the appearance once more of Master Herbert, who brought a most tempting piece of cake in his hand. Going up to the cockatoo, he said, "I suppose I needn't offer you this, Cockatoo. You are determined not to be friends." The cockatoo put out his claw for it, and took it gently from Herbert's hand, who could not fail to see there was a marked difference in the bird's appearance.
"Good boy, good boy!" shrieked the gray parrot from her perch, quite forgetting she had promised never to speak the English language, in her eagerness to mark her approval of his conduct. ”

“ So shy and furtive a bird would choose his time for refreshment when there is little likelihood of interruption. In the ravine there are often metallic starlings by the dozen, and little green pigeons—for those domiciled come and go at all hours of the day. Occasionally a sulphur-crested cockatoo comes sailing down to the diminishing pool through interwoven leafage noiselessly as a butterfly; but scrub fowls, scared by the apparition in white, scamper off with a clatter, scattering the dead leaves. In such narrow quarters, birds are under restraint, and show anxiety and apprehension. ”

“ This cockatoo is very like Cacatua sanguinea in colour and shape. It is white, with a dirty shade of yellow under the wing. The upper mandibula is much longer than the lower, overhanging it considerably. This it uses to grub up roots and other things on which it lives. These cockatoos were very numerous on the Murray, and are altogether distinct from the genus to which I have compared them; but their note is very similar, and, excepting to a naturalist, the difference is difficult to observe. The skin round the eye of both species is much larger than the cere round that of the common cockatoo. ”

“ The Rose-breasted Cockatoo possesses considerable power of wing, and like the house-pigeon of this country, frequently passes in flocks over the plains with a long sweeping flight, the group at one minute displaying their beautiful silvery grey backs to the gaze of the spectator, and at the next by a simultaneous change of position bringing their rich rosy breasts into view, the effect of which is so beautiful to behold, that it is a source of regret to me that my readers cannot participate in the pleasure I have derived from the sight. ”

“ Only one Cockatoo transgresses Wallace's line to the west, and that is found in the Philippine Islands; evidently it has spread there from the adjacent part of the Australian region.
The sombre, slow-flying Black Cockatoo is the largest of all Cockatoos. It is seen fairly often in small companies, especially on wattles and eucalypts, the wood of which it tears to pieces with its powerful bill to get the insect larvæ feeding there. It is a valuable forest-saving bird. ”

“ We saw here a tame white cockatoo, fastened by the leg to a ring chipped out of a coconut which slid along a horizontal pole; subsequently we found this was frequently done in New Guinea. As I have previously stated, the natives are very fond of decorating themselves with feathers, and they wear great bunches of white cockatoo feathers in their hair when dancing. These unfortunate tame cockatoos are periodically plucked to supply feathers for these occasions. After dinner, Ray exhibited the phonograph in the schoolhouse to the students, and continued his philological studies. ”

“ THE GREAT RED-CRESTED COCKATOO. Psittacus Moluccensis, Linnæus; Kakatoes à huppe rouge, Buffon; Der rothäubige Kakatu, Bechstein.
This species is a little larger than the common cockatoo, its size being almost equal to that of the red and blue maccaw. Its beak is bluish black, the membrane black, the circle of the eyes pearl grey, and the iris deep red. The feet are lead colour, the nails black. White, tinged with pale rose-red, is the prevailing colour; the tuft, which falls back on the head, is very large, most of the feathers being six inches in length ”

“ When taught they are highly valued by the settlers, and almost every family has one or more of them. They exist in great numbers in the bush of the vicinity, and are preferable to the cockatoo, because they are free from his tricks—he being as mischievous as a monkey, when allowed to traverse the house. ”

“ A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' vol. ii. p. 135:
"The word cockatoo in the farinaceous colony has become so common as almost to cease to carry with it the intended sarcasm. . . . It signifies that the man does not really till his land, but only scratches it as the bird does." ”

“ The reply came by wire, ‘File their teeth.’
The first bird that was shot was a great big white cockatoo. All the other cockatoos, that were with the one we shot, fled away. This happened at a small shanty standing near the edge of a lagoon. I should have shot the cockatoo myself, but it looked too much like slaughtering a domestic fowl. Cockatoos were good to eat, they make excellent pies, and I must shoot every one I saw; but—and here my companions were very impressive—be careful and not get ‘bushed.’
To get ‘bushed’ means to get lost. ”

“ The white cockatoos, alarmed by the outcry of the sentry—for, like the English rooks, they always tell off some of their number to keep a look-out—who with sulphur-coloured crest, erect and outstretched neck, kept up a constant cry of warning, rose from the maize patch, the spotless white of their plumage glancing in the sun, and forming a beautiful contrast to the pale straw-colour of the under portion of their extended pinions. ”

“ They may be friends; but birds though they are, if they see anything strange in our appearance, they will fall upon us, and may peck out our feathers, if not our very eyes.'" [Pg 34]
"After waiting for a little," continued the cockatoo, "and after listening very hard, my companion explained to me she thought we might venture to join the group; for if they weren't cockatoos, they were our cousins the parrots ”

“ The plumage of other birds is often of the gayest type. Thus, the blue wren is common about Nutbourne; and this bird, says Gould, is hardly surpassed by any of the feathered tribe, certainly by none but the humming-birds of America. The cockatoo, with white, black, or rosy crest, flies in flocks, and few sights in the world are prettier than one of these flights. When they finally settle on a tree, they cover it as with a snow-drift. Noisy they are, and clever, never feeding in the settled districts without posting sentinels to warn the rest of the approach of the human enemy. ”

“ I say 'almost,' for although in these moist and sunless seaboard tracts of what we Australian-born people call bush, and English people would call wood or forest, there was no sound of human life, there was yet always to be heard the thump, thump of the frightened scrub wallaby, and now and again the harsh, shrieking note of the great white cockatoo, or the quick rush of a long-tailed iguana over the thick bed of leaves, as the timid reptile fled to the nearest tree, up whose rugged bole it crawled for security. ”

“ We have no orange, lemon, or coffee trees in our garden; and though we have apples and pears in plenty, you could not stand the long cold nights. But I'll tell you what I will do: if you will make a promise not to fly far, and to return to your cage when I call you, I shall let you free to fly about in the shrubbery; and you can bathe in the pond, if you do not harm the fish."
"Oh, thank you, Master Herbert," cried the cockatoo. "I'll come back at a moment's notice,—I really will."
"Mee-a-ow, mew," cried Polly, imitating the cry of a cat. "Beware of Miss Puss." ”

“ The headman of the white cockatoo totem group and his son spent the whole of one night ‘singing’ the cockatoo. In the Wara tribe on the shore of the Gulf of Carpentaria a man of the rain-group goes to a pool, and, taking care that no women or strangers are in sight, bends down over and ‘sings’ the water ”

“ It is quite true that when living together in large flocks their cries frequently become a deafening noise intolerable to ordinary ears, but a solitary bird is very engaging; indeed, there is something so extremely tender in the tone in which it utters the word "cockatoo" (whence is derived the name) , that it attracts us involuntarily, for the cry of "cockatoo" is always intended to express a kindly feeling, and changes when angry into a most fearful shriek. ”

“ Herbert having consented, away flew the cockatoo down on to the path; but at that moment a huge cat, which lived outside, and which had a lively young family of five kittens, under the summer-house, saw the bird and made a pounce at him, catching him by the feathers of his tail. Fortunately Herbert saw what had happened, and before the cockatoo had time to scream, he had pitched his cap at Mrs. Puss, and then drove her away with the branch of a tree lying near. Mr. Cockatoo was shaking with fright, and was thankful to find himself inside [Pg 73] his cage once more, with the door securely shut. ”

“ Great flocks of cockatoos were circling round their roosting-trees like English rooks, and parrots and lories—their fine green, and red, and blue, and yellow feathers beginning to look very dull and ragged, because moulting-time was near—were taking their evening bath in the shallow water by the banks, splashing it over their heads and wings, and chattering as if they were saying, “Isn’t this prime fun?” ”

“ Without his spear, he is unable to transfix the kangaroos and wallabies on which he so much depends for his daily food, and, robbed of his boomerangs and nullah-nullahs, the wild duck can pass him scatheless, and the cockatoo can scream defiance from the lofty trees. ”

“ In such a country, the unexpected is always happening, and I am continually being startled in the streets at being addressed by some dangerous-looking quadruped, or an impertinent bird, for I must say that as a class the birds are the most insolent of all the inhabitants of this strange land. There is in particular one old crow, a most objectionable personage, and a cockatoo who is really the most violent and ill-natured bird that I have ever been acquainted with. ”

“ I don't wonder he is considered the most magnificent of the parrot tribe."
"It is certainly a very beautiful bird," said Charley; "but I've read somewhere about it looking like a richly-liveried footman, and whoever said so was not far wrong."
Dash had slipped away when he found there were no more pieces to be got from the macaw; and when Herbert and Charley went into the room where Mrs. Polly and the cockatoo stayed, there they found him, sitting at the foot of Cockatoo's perch begging for a dainty morsel. The cockatoo was chattering away to him ”