_J. Gould and H.C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
LICMETIS NASICUS.
Long-billed Cockatoo.
_Psittacus nasicus_, Temm, in Linn. Trans., vol. xiii. p. 115.—Ib. Pl.
Col, 331.
_Long-nosed Cockatoo_, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. ii. p. 205.
_Licmetis tenuirostris_, Wagl. Mon. Psitt, in Abhand., vol. i. pp. 505
and 695.—G. R. Gray, List of Gen. of Birds, 2nd edit. p. 69.
_Psittacus tenuirostris_, Kuhl in Nov. Acta, tom. x. p. 88.
_Cacatua nasica_, Less. Traité d’Orn., p. 183.
_Plyctolophus tenuirostris_, Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol.
xiv. p. 108.
_The Red-vented Cockatoo_, Brown’s Ill., p. 10. pl. 5.
As I regard the Long-billed White Cockatoos from Western Australia and
New South Wales as distinct, the habitat of the present species, so far
as is yet known, is confined to the districts of Port Philip and South
Australia, where it inhabits the interior rather than the neighbourhood
of the coast. Like the common _Cacatua galerita_, it assembles in large
flocks and spends much of its time on the ground, where it grubs up the
roots of Orchids and other bulbous plants upon which it mainly subsists,
and hence the necessity for its singularly-formed bill. It not
unfrequently makes inroads to the newly-sown fields of corn, where it is
the most destructive bird imaginable. It passes over the ground in a
succession of hops, much more quickly than the _Cacatua galerita_; its
powers of flight also exceed those of that bird, not perhaps in
duration, but in the rapidity with which it passes through the air. I
noticed this particularly when a flock passed me in the interior of
South Australia. I have seen many individuals of this species in
captivity, both in New South Wales and in this country; and although
they appear to bear confinement equally as well as the other members of
the family, they seemed more dull and morose, and of a very irritable
temper.
The eggs, which are white, two in number, and about the size of those of
the _Cacatua galerita_, are usually deposited on a layer of rotten wood
at the bottom of holes in the larger gum-trees.
The sexes are alike in colour and size.
The general plumage white, washed with pale brimstone-yellow on the
under surface of the wing, and with bright brimstone-yellow on the under
surface of the tail; line across the forehead and lores scarlet; the
feathers of the head, neck and breast are also scarlet at the base,
showing through the white, particularly on the breast; irides light
brown; bill white; naked skin round the eye greenish blue; legs and feet
dull olive-grey.
The two figures in the accompanying Plate are rather less than the
natural size.
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