Psittacus leucolophus, Russ. Synonyms: Cacatua leucolophus, Cacatua cristatella, Plictolophus leucolophus, etc.

German: Der weisshaubige Kakadu.

GREAT White-Crested Cockatoo.

THIS fine bird is often confounded with the Red-crested Cockatoo (Psittacus Moluccensis), its very near relative, as well as with its distant connection, the Great Sulphur-crested Cockatoo of Australia (Psittacus galeritus); it is a native of the Eastern Moluccas, while the Red-crested variety is only found in Ceram, one of the larger islands of the group, and the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo abounds in Tasmania, and the whole of the southern portions of the Australian mainland.

The Moluccas being a Dutch possession, this bird generally arrives in England via Holland, and commands a good price in the bird-market: from sixty to ninety marks being asked and given for it in Germany, while in England it can seldom be obtained for a less sum than £3 or £4.

In size it almost equals the dimensions of the Red and Blue Macaw (Psittacus Macao). The colour of the beak is bluish-black, the feet are lead colour, and the strong nails black: a white circle surrounds the eye, the irides are black, or brown; the former colour indicating the male and the latter the female. The whole of the plumage is snow-white, with the exception of the primaries and the exterior feathers of the tail, which are primrose yellow. The crest, which the bird can raise and depress at will, is five inches in length, and, when the owner is at rest, it lays close back against the head and upper part of the neck.

The Red-crested variety, (the difference is so slight that it cannot be constituted into a species) has the crest feathers, all but the first pair, of a dull orange red, otherwise the birds are exactly similar in size and appearance, and are exceedingly handsome to look at, but awfully noisy: their shrieks being audible, on a calm day, at an immense distance, so much so that when they are flying so high up in the air as to be actually invisible to the unassisted eye, their voices can yet be distinctly heard, somewhat modified and mellowed by distance, it is true, but far too loud, even then, to be agreeable. Their ordinary cry is a repetition of their own name, "Cock-a-too, Cock-a-too!" and a yell that is best represented by the syllables " Cur-rah !" much emphasis being laid upon the latter, which is terrifically loud, and when angry or excited they vociferate these discordant notes an almost unlimited number of times.

Occasionally one of these birds will learn to pronounce a few words with tolerable distinctness, but their forte lies in the imitation of the barking of dogs, the crowing of cocks, the " gobbling" of turkeys, and the cackling of ducks, hens, and geese: but more particularly in the rendering, with much fidelity, but in an exaggerated key, the noisy outcries of a domestic fowl that has just produced an egg, and is vain-gloriously proclaiming the achievement to her companions. They may be readily taught to throw up their wings, dance on their perch, hold out a foot to shake hands, and bow their heads in salutation of a visitor.

There is no perceptible difference between the sexes, except in the colour of the irides, but the female, perhaps, is a trifle less noisy than her mate. Like all the rest of the Parrot family, with a few doubtful exceptions, these birds make their nests in hollow trees, where the female deposits two or three white eggs, which are hatched in twenty-one days: the young grow very slowly, and are quite three years old before they reach maturity: there is, generally, only one brood in a season.

As the Great White Cockatoos are neither delicate, nor difficult to keep, although natives of a sultry clime, it ought to be quite possible to breed them in captivity: but if it were desired to make the attempt, the cage, or aviary rather, provided for their reception, would require to be made of rods of iron of almost the same size and strength as those employed in the construction of a lion's den, for nothing else, we feel assured, would be able to resist the continual assaults of those tremendous engines of destruction, the beaks of a pair of Great White Cockatoos.

The general custom in Germany is to give these birds a spacious cage in the form of a bell, from the top of which is hung a metal ring, in which they like to sit and swing themselves, the oscillating movement probably reminding them of the swaying to and fro of the branches of the trees in their native land. In England they are usually kept chained by one leg to a perch fixed at right angles to an upright stand of three or four feet in height. Stand and cross-bar should be made of the hardest obtainable wood, and the ends of the perch should be cased in tin or zinc; but perches made of metal are apt to give the birds cramp, and even to produce inflammation of the lungs and bowels, by chilling the poor creatures when the weather is cold; and we all know what a distressing sensation is produced throughout the entire system, when we sit shivering with cold feet, on some ungenial winter's day, while waiting for a train perchance, or for the promised arrival of a friend who fails to keep his appointment.

The Great White Cockatoo is very easily tamed, if taken young from the nest, and brought up by hand, or rather by mouth, for the proper way to bring up young Parrots or Cockatoos who have lost, or been taken from, their parents, is to boil some maize and oats until they are quite soft, chew them to small pieces in the mouth, and let the young things feed themselves there as they do when they trust their beaks into their father's bill. A bird thus reared will become perfectly tame and confiding, and, especially if his owner lives in the country, may be trusted with entire liberty out of doors, even to accompanying his master, or mistress, on a long walk, or ride: with children, however, they are nearly always spiteful and not to be trusted, and of dogs they have an utter abhorrence, which they take every opportunity of displaying.

A bird of this species that belonged to a lady friend of ours, was so tame that he was suffered to go about the place at his own sweet will, and delighted in sitting on a paling some three or four feet away from the utmost range of the chained house-dog, whom "Cocky" took a malicious pleasure in driving almost to madness, which from his great proficiency in the canine tongue, he could do without the least difficulty whenever he liked, and in which, judging from the effect produced upon his enemy, he was in the habit of making anything but complimentary remarks upon the latter, and possibly his relatives and friends. This bird, too, used apparently to take the greatest delight in swooping down upon Ponto, and passing over his back, at a sufficient distance to escape his jaws and claws, but yet near enough to flap him on the nose with his powerful pinions: but the pitcher may go to the well too often, and Master Cocky one day dared the house-dog for the last time.

Whether he swooped down lower, or more slowly than usual, or whether the dog exerted more strength and leaped higher and with greater impetus, who shall say? the bird was caught in Ponto's jaws, got one nip, that stained with carmine his snowy plumes, and Cooky's mistress mourned the loss of her favourite, while everyone else about the place rejoiced; for the poor fellow had not been too well beloved by the children and retainers, who all, more than once, at one time or another, had felt the powerful pressure of his formidable bill upon their hands or necks: for the poor faithful Cockatoo was so fond of the dear lady who had tended him and loved him from his early youth, that he was madly jealous of anyone and everyone who dared to approach her. On one occasion she called to a little son to bring her a newspaper out of the house to an arbour where she was sitting, with Cocky dozing on her shoulder, and the child, instead of handing the newspaper quietly to his mother, tossed it at her playfully from the arbour door, and the bird, always on the qui vive, even when apparently asleep, if bis dear mistress was near, dashed at once at the boy, who instinctively turned and fled, but was nipped on the back of the neck by the furious Cockatoo, who construed the playful act of the child into an assault requiring condign punishment, and accordingly fastened his sharp beak into the back of the youngster's neck, almost carrying away the piece; and to this day, though many years have elapsed since then, the white scar remains to attest the power of the Cockatoo's mandibles and the strength of his affection for his mistress.

"In March, 1775," says Buffon, in his description of the Great White one, "there were two, a male and a female, at the fair of St. Germain, in Paris, which obeyed with great docility the orders given to them, either to spread out their crest, or salute people with a bend of the head, or to touch different objects with their beak or tongue, or to reply to questions from their master with a mark of assent, which clearly expressed a silent 'yes': they also showed by repeated signs the number of persons in the room, the hour of the day, the colour of clothes, etc: they kissed one another by touching their beaks, and even caressed each other: this showed a desire to pair, and the master affirms that they often do so, even in our climates."

We are inclined to think that they would readily nest, and bring up their younpr in captivity, were they but afforded an opportunity for doing so, but the experiment, we suspect, has never been fairly tried, at least we have not heard of young of this species having been as yet produced in Europe, although one of these birds, flying at liberty, in the woods round Northrepps Hall, mated with a hen Leadbeater (Psittacus Leadbeateri), and the pair produced a couple of fine hybrids, partaking of the characteristics of both parents, but were, with the latter, subsequently shot by a stupid farmer, who ought to have known better, bat could not, apparently, resist the temptation of "potting" some strange birds that chanced to fly within range of his murderous gun.

Continuing his remarks about these birds, Buffon observes: - "Cockatoos, which may be known by their crest, are not easily taught to speak" (with the exception of Goffin, which was unknown in your day, M. de Buffon) "there is one species which does not speak at all; but this is, in some measure, compensated for by the great facility with which they are tamed; in some parts of India they are even so far domesticated that they will build their nests on the roofs of the houses: this facility of education is owing to their intelligence, which is very superior to that of other Parrots. They listen, understand, and obey; but it is in vain that they make the same efforts to repeat what is said to them; they seem to wish to make up for it by other expressions of feeling and by affectionate caresses. There is a mildness and grace in all their movements which greatly add to their beauty. Though the Cockatoos, like other Parrots, use their bill in ascending and descending, to and from their perch, yet they have not their heavy disagreeable step; on the contrary, they are very active, and hop about very nimbly "

With reference to the above quotation from a work written more than a hundred years ago, we would simply remark that the great French naturalist had, evidently, no personal knowledge of the mode of nidi-fication peculiar to these birds, or he would not have talked about their "building their nests on the roofs of the houses", for Cockatoos build no nest, properly so called, as is very well known, and would be more likely to seek for a location in the chimney, than upon the roof: in fact we have heard of a pair of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, that did actually once attempt such a feat, but came to sad grief among the soot, and signally failed in their praiseworthy endeavours to bring up a young family in such an unsuitable situation.

The principal food of these noble-looking birds consists of oats, maize, hempseed, biscuits, a piece of apple or carrot, and any green food that may be obtainable, always excepting parsley, which is as prussic acid to the whole race: but lettuce, not too fresh, dandelions, groundsel, etc., are invaluable for keeping them in health. They are free drinkers, and should always have access to a supply of clean fresh water, both for drinking and bathing purposes: not that they are much given to "tubbing", but they glory in a warm summer shower, opening their wings, and spreading out their tails to catch the falling pearls, in default of which they will scatter mouthfuls of water upon their backs. Milk, meat, and dainties of all kinds are not fit for them, and should never be given; a course of such diet soon puts their digestive apparatus out of gear, causes heat of the blood, and irritation of the skin, to allay which the wretched creatures will pluck out all the feathers they can reach on every part of their bodies, until they are quite bare, with the exception of the head, and the quill and tail feathers, the destruction of which I have never seen them able to accomplish.

In such a deplorable case what is to be done ? What measures are to be adopted to prevent this self-mutilation? In the first place, put the bird upon an exclusively vegetable diet, give clean water, fresh dry sharp river-sand, an abundance of green food, of every kind in season, and for three days put a pinch of carbonate of magnesia (levis) in the drinking vessel: lastly restore the bird to comparative liberty in an empty room, or loft, free from draughts, and furnished with a variety of logs and branches upon which the poor thing can find more congenial exercise for its beak, than in plucking out by the roots, and chewing, its own feathers. Or, where an empty room is not available, make a collar of pasteboard sufficiently large to prevent the bird from reaching its feathers, when it is slipped over its head, and fixed upon its neck, as a similar contrivance is often placed upon the neck of a horse, to keep the latter animal from nibbling at a sore upon its legs, or flanks: the former mode of procedure, however, is much the more desirable, where attainable, as the collar is apt to greatly terrify the bird at first, and is always difficult of adjustment.

The Great White Cockatoo is very hardy, and with the most ordinary care will live for quite a number of years in captivity upon the simple food recommended above, and will enjoy uninterrupted health; but if pampered and coddled, it will become gouty on the feet, dyspeptic and altogether a miserable and disagreeable object: Verbum sap.