The royal natural history (1893) (14784440452)

Identifier: royalnaturalhist47lyde (find matches)
Title: The royal natural history
Year: 1893 (1890s)
Authors: Lydekker, Richard, 1849-1915 Sclater, Philip Lutley, 1829-1913 Frostick, W. B., former owner. DSI Brooks, W. T., former owner. DSI
Subjects: Zoology Natural history
Publisher: London and New York : Frederick Warne & Co.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries



Text Appearing Before Image:
GREAT BLACK COCKATOO, WITH CREST ERECTED (\ liat. size). process, becomes of a deep blood-red. That the enormously powerful bill of this birdmust have some special use is quite evident, and its particular office has been describedby Mr. Wallace in the following interesting account of the creatures habits: Thegreat black cockatoo, writes this observer, frequents the lower parts of the forest,and is seen singly, or at most two or three together. It flies slowly and noiselesslyand may be killed by a comparatively slight wound. It eats various fruits andseeds, but seems more particularly attached to the kernel of the kanary-nut, whichgrows on a lofty forest-tree (Candviam commune), abundant in the islands where
Text Appearing After Image:
BANKSIAN AND SLENDER-BILLED COCKATOOS. COCKATOOS. 105 this bird is found; and the manner in whicli it gets at these seeds shows acorrelation of structure and habits, which would point out the kanar)^ as its specialfood. The shell of this nut is so excessively hard that only a heavy hammer willcrack it; it is somewJiat triangular, and the outside is quite smooth. The mannerin which the bird opens these nuts is very curious. Taking one endways in itsbill, and keeping it iirm by a pressure of the tongue, it cuts a transverse notcli bya lateral sawing motion of the sharp-edged lower mandible. This done, it takeshold of the nut with its foot, and, biting oti a piece of leaf, retains it in the deepnotch of the upper mandible, and, again seizing the nut, which is prevented fromslipping by the elastic tissue of the leaf, fixes the edge of tlie lower mandible inthe notch, and by a powerful nip breaks oft a piece of the shell. Again taking thenut in its claws, it inserts the very long and sharp