The Pink Cockatoo (Major Mitchell) is unfortunately becoming rare. It was fairly common when I taught in a Mallee school, near where Hopetoun now is. It has been described as "quite the most beautiful of all the Cockatoos, being a harmony of delicate rose-pink and white, with a handsome crest of acuminate feathers barred in crimson, yellow, and white." It does not take kindly to captivity. It nested in the smaller "spouts" of the green "box-trees" in the "box-flats" and swamps about the Goyura School, south of Lake Corrong.
What is more glorious than a mob of Rose-breasted Cockatoos (Galahs), 500 strong, airing their beauties and graces as they take a constitutional before retiring for the night? Probably no other kind of bird shows better company-flying than Galahs; now one sheet of a delicate gray lavender, and the next instant a flash of brilliant salmon-pink, as the whole company turns and wheels, obedient to some command or signal unperceived by us; again, the sun lights up the pale-pink crests and gray backs, as they turn once more and wheel, screeching, to continue their evolutions further afield. It is a sight that lingers in the memory. They are charming pets, and some talk well. Their beauty adds charm to our almost perfectly level great inland plains.
The delicately-colored and friendly Cockatoo Parrot, with its immovable crest, takes a sub-family to itself. It migrates from the North, and, in a dry year, may even reach the South Coast. In 1908 some of these birds reached Colac, in Southern Victoria. They are favorite aviary birds, and thousands have been exported.
In the true Parrot family, Australia is strongly represented by many beautiful birds. The first is the Barraband Parrakeet of Gould, and the Green Leek of some ornithologists. As the name Green Leek is practically in universal use for the Musk Lorikeet (Green Keet) of the ornithologist, it seems desirable to sink an inappropriate name into a synonym, and use the earlier name, Superb Parrot, for it is a beautiful bird. Sad to say, it has become exceedingly rare, though Mr. A. W. Milligan informed me, a few days ago, that he saw six fly into some pines at Black Rock one day this month (January, 1911).
The Rock Pebble, or Smoker, of the country dweller, formally called the Black-tailed Parrot, is a fine bird. His tail, however, is not really black, but is strongly iridescent. He nested in numbers, at the beginning of the nineties, in the dead box-trees in Lake Corrong. After an early tea, we frequently went over to the lake and watched the birds feeding their young. No longer do they inhabit that district, which has been completely cleared and placed under cultivation.
The big King Parrot is a "showy, noble species," and is still common in parts, especially the moist forest districts.
The members of the next group form a sub-family—the Broad-tails—confined to Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. Judging by their names, they must be amongst the most beautiful of birds. The best known is the common Rosella, often quoted in European books as one of the most beautiful of birds. Its scientific name is eximius, which means excellent. Indeed, the scientific names of Australian parrots give a good indication of their place amongst the glories of the bird world. The cousin of the Rosella—the large blue-winged and blue-cheeked Crimson Parrot—is well named elegans; a grass parrot is also elegans, then follow splendidus, splendida, and pulchella, while that great ornithologist, Gould, has conferred the honor of pulcherrimus on another Australian parrot. These names, given by scientists, will show Australians in what high esteem these birds, so common with us, are held by observers from other lands.
The Crimson Parrot, previously mentioned, is, I think, becoming common, for I have lately seen it flying about in towns, notably in the Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, the Zoological Gardens, Melbourne, and the school yard at Wangaratta.
The Yellow Parrakeet, with its blue cheeks, is a "harmony in blue and canary yellow, and is an exceedingly lovely bird." It is unfortunately rare.
The next bird is one of our well-known cage pets—the beautiful Ringneck—the Mallee Parrot. It flies ahead of one along the half-chain strip of scrub left on mallee roads, and is a feature of interest.