_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.
There is no doubt that Mr. Caley is right in the opinion expressed in
his notes that this is the _Carat_ of the natives; and he adds that it
lays two eggs in the holes of the trees; “does not cut off the branches
of trees like the _Cal. funereus_, but cuts off _May-rybor-ro_ and
_Mun-mow_ (the fruit of two species of _Persoonia_), without however
eating them, before they are ripe, to the great injury and vexation of
the natives.”
The adult male may at all times be distinguished from the female by the
broad band of scarlet on the tail. The females and males during the
first year have this part banded with black, as shown in the
accompanying Plate.
The old male has the entire plumage glossy greenish black, washed with
brown on the head and neck, with a broad band of deep vermilion across
the middle of all but the two centre tail-feathers, and the external web
of the outer feather on each side; irides very dark brown; orbits mealy
black in some, in others pinky; bill dark horn-colour; feet mealy black.
The females and young males differ in having the head and neck browner
than in the adult male, and in having the scarlet band on the tail
crossed by narrow bands of greenish black.
The figures are nearly the size of life.
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