The HELMET COCKATOO (_Callicephalus galeatus_) also deserves notice as
being the type of a tribe that forms the connecting link between the True
Cockatoos and the GERINGEROES or RAVEN COCKATOOS of New Holland. This
bird is known by its short vaulted beak, which has a slightly projecting
hook on the upper mandible, and by its tolerably strong and rounded tail.
The plumage is beautiful and richly marked; the upper part of the body
is a dark slate blue, the forehead, cheeks, and crest scarlet; all the
feathers, except the primary and secondary quills and the tail-feathers,
are slender, and edged with whitish grey more deeply on the upper than on
the under part of the body. The female is darker, and almost of a slate
colour, the upper surface of the neck and back sprinkled with pale grey,
and the rest of the body marked with irregular greyish white stripes.
The feathers on the under parts of the body are of a brimstone colour,
edged with dusky red. The spaces round the eyes are blackish brown, the
beak light horn colour, the feet black and sprinkled with a greyish kind
of dust. We have no knowledge whatever of these birds in their native
state. Gould tells us that they are found in the woods on the southern
coast of Australia, and on some of the neighbouring islands, as also in
the northern parts of Van Diemen's Land, where they inhabit the highest
trees, and luxuriate upon the seeds of the different kinds of Eucalyptus.
[Illustration: THE HELMET COCKATOO (_Callicephalus galeatus_).]
Many species of Cockatoos are remarkable for the peculiar formation of
their beaks, the upper part of which is unusually prolonged. These birds
form a distinct group, but much resemble the true Cockatoos, and have
therefore been placed among them. Such, for example, is