Psittacus Leadbeateri, Russ. VYMS: Plyctolophus Leadbeateri, Plyctolophus erythropterus, Cacatua Leadbeateri.

German: Der Inka-Kakadu.

TIME was when the acquisition of this glorious bird meant money, and that a considerable sum; from £25 to £30 apiece being asked and freely given; but then communication with Australia was a matter of difficulty! from four to seven months being reckoned an ordinary passage; whereas now the transit is accomplished in about forty days, and the Leadbeater's price has fallen accordingly to £5 or £6; and occasionally a fine specimen may be picked up for a much less sum.

LEADBEATER Cockatoo.

Beyond his beauty, and that is great, there is nothing to recommend this bird to the notice of amateurs, for he is not very intelligent, nor is he docile; he never learns much, and invariably remains wild and suspicious, even after years of captivity, and much patient effort to convert him to a better frame of mind. Doubtless there are exceptions to the rule we have laid down, for birds have their several idiosyncrasies as well as men, and individuals are always to be found of a more pliable disposition than the average members of their race.

Dr. Russ has not very much to say about this fine bird, but in his Handbook dismisses it with a curt notice of half-a-dozen lines, quoting its price in Germany at from fifty to sixty marks, which is less than the sum for which it can be purchased here: but this is easily to be accounted for, the Germans are essentially a practical people, and, when all has been said for him that can be said, Leadbeater is an impracticable bird.

In size, Leadbeater's Cockatoo rather exceeds the common Grey Parrot, and is a trifle larger than Goffin's; the general colour is that of raspberries and cream, a most delicious tint suggestive of summer days at a farmhouse in the country when we were young: the pink shade is deeper on the head, neck and under parts of the body than on the back and wings, which are all but white: the long crest of narrow pointed feathery plumes is a very magnificent affair, red at the base, followed by an inch or so of bright canary yellow, then red again with tips of purest white: and the bird appears to be conscious that its chief charm lies in this appendage, for it is never weary of displaying it for the admiration of all and sundry beholders. The beak is of a pale grey-white; the upper mandible strangely sinuated and toothed; the feathers at the immediate base of the bill are crimson, forming a narrow band or fillet. The under surface of the wings is rich crimson red. The legs and toes are dark grey, the scales distinctly marked by lines of a lighter shade of the same colour.

The female bears a general resemblance to her lord, but is paler on the breast; the irides, however, are the surest indication of the sex of a given bird, as in the female they are reddish brown, and jet black in the male. The late Mr. John Gould, in his magnificent work on The Birds of Australia, represents two of these Cockatoos, which he calls male and female, with red-brown irides, and the same thing occurs in his illustration of the Rosy Cockatoo (Psittacus roseicapillus), so that he does not appear to have noticed this distinction: but such trifling omissions are easily accounted for, and in nowise detract from the sterling merit of the grandest work on ornithological Australia in the language.

There is no instance on record of this Cockatoo having bred in Europe, and it is such a very shy and suspicious bird, we scarcely think there will be, until some enthusiastic amateur, gifted with wealth and much patience, constructs a large and strong aviary, appropriately furnished with the trunk and limbs of a dead tree, and devotes it solely to the use of a pair of these splendid birds; or turns a couple out into a wood, far from the guns of bovine-brained agriculturists; when, as likely as not, the Leadbeaters, with a perverseness characteristic of their family, will separate, each contracting an alliance with a partner of a different kind, and bring up broods of monstrous hybrids, as they are recorded to have done at Northrepps Hall, rather than consent to perpetuate their race in a foreign country and uncongenial clime.

Vigors, who was the first English writer to describe this Cockatoo, named it after a friend, Mr. Leadbeater, well-known to ornithologists, and has left us a most interesting account of a truly interesting bird.

Quoting from the Notes of Mr. Caley, he says: - "These birds are shy and not easily approached. The flesh of the young is accounted good eating. I have heard from the natives that it makes its nest in the rotten limbs of trees, of nothing more than the vegetable mould formed by the decayed parts of the bough; that it has no more than two young ones at a time; and that the eggs are white, without spots. The natives first find where the nests are, by the birds making Co'tora in an adjoining tree, which lies in conspicuous heaps upon the ground. Co'tora is the bark stripped off the small branches, and cut into minute pieces. When the young ones are nearly fledged, the old birds cut a quantity of young branches from the adjoining trees, but never from that in which the nest is situated. They are sometimes found to enter the hollow limb as far as two yards. The nests are generally found in a black-butted gum-tree, and also in Coroy'bo, Cajim-bora, and Yarro-war'ry trees (species of Eucalyptus) "

The illustration that accompanies the above description represents the crest displayed, fan-wise, across the forehead of the bird, whereas it can only be expanded from back to front, and by no means from side to side; but the drawing was evidently taken from an imperfectly stuffed skin, and presents altogether a distorted, and almost fanciful appearance.

Not having kept this Cockatoo, we are not in a position to say much more about it: however most of the writers we have consulted give it by no means a good character; Mr. Gedney alone declaring it to be "the most amiable of the Cockatoo tribe", and then goes on to say: - "The Leadbeater has the common failing of his tribe, he is addicted to screaming; although, to do him justice, I must say that his sins in this respect are neither so frequent nor so heinous as those of other Cockatoos - and indeed when a bird of this species becomes thoroughly accustomed to those about him, there is very little to complain of in the matter of screaming, unless he gets teased by children or servants/'

And this author's further comments upon the objectionable practice above alluded to, are so practical and sensible that we make no apology for quoting them, especially as they occupy no very extended space.

"This practice (teasing) spoils most of the excitable birds of the Parrot and Cockatoo tribes, and although it may be very entertaining to see them get into a terrible passion, throw up their wings and crests, and give vent to their wrath in shrieks of fiery indignation, still a bird that is provoked to such exhibitions of temper will soon become a nuisance to any household, and no amount of subsequent good treatment and petting will eradicate the tendency to give way to uncontrolled outbursts of passion upon the most trivial provocation,"

Which is perfectly true: so let the reader see to it that the Cockatoo or Parrot he, or she, has become possessed of be not subjected to such treatment, or the consequences will be that bird and master, after awhile, will be unable to live in the same house together.

The food of this species should be the same that has been recommended for Goffin and the Great White-crested Cockatoo, namely: maize, oats, hempseed, biscuit, carrot, and green food of every description, not forgetting plenty of water, but never, on any account, meat or milk. If it be desired to try and get a pair to breed, a few mealworms, or daddy-long-legs may be added to the ordinary diet, but even these should never be offered to a solitary Leadbeater, kept as a pet in a cage, or chained to an ordinary Parrot-stand: for the effect of animal food upon these birds is to excite them to such a degree that, where they are unable to gratify their inclinations in the natural way, they, very frequently, turn to and strip themselves of every feather they can reach; which, we need scarcely observe, gives them a miserable, poverty-struck, woe-begone, appearance that is the reverse of prepossessive.

A Leadbeater, properly looked after, is not by any means a delicate bird, but is perfectly well able, as many who have kept it can attest, to pass even our severest winter out of doors, not only with impunity, but actually in the enjoyment of far more robust and perfect health, than if he had been cared for and coddled up in-doors.

Of draughts, however, he, in common with every bird, delicate or hardy, is exceedingly impatient: a few minutes exposure to a cold current of air, being sufficient to induce an attack of bronchitis, or of inflammation of the lungs and bowels: all which maladies are far more readily prevented than cured. Out of doors, in a comfortable aviary, abrupt transitions of temperature are, usually, productive of no bad effects; but in the house it is different, so that care must be taken that a pet bird be not exposed to such depressing influences, or the consequences may be, promptly, disastrous to the last degree.