Australian Birds

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22435, 23 June 1938, Page 5 (Supplement)

Australian Birds

Nearly everyone must have heard : the laugh of the kookaburra in the picture theatres; the laugh given , there is very short and is far from complete. The common name in Australia for the kookaburra is the laughing jackass. When two or more birds laugh together they take .different parts, yet each bird is capable of a complete laugh. “Jacko” is a very lovable bird, and a useful one, too. He lives, on such

things as worms, grubs, snails, spiders, and small snakes. His eyesight is very keen, and it is common to see him fly off the branch of a tree 80ft high on to a spider, about a quarter of an inch in : size. The kookaburra nests in a hole in a tree. The eggs axe white in colour, and' usually four’ in number. The Australian crow, or raven, has a very bad name; he is hunted because he has been known to pick the eyes out of weak sheep or lambs. These birds are very cunning, and not easily shot.’ In flight they

(By JS.C.H.)

make a cry which sounds like “craw, craw” and “you’ll die”; to get the right note say these words slowly with a nasal twang. The crow, with. all other birds, •is useful, lor he is a natural scavenger, much the same as the seagull is here. Tn captivity he is a good t&lkcr • < The sulphur crested cockatoo ip captivity is a great pet, but it is a very destructive bird, and a

noted thief. These birds, except in the nesting period, fly together fit large flocks, sometimes numbering more than 1000 birds. They will descend on a wheat field, and when disturbed, rise like a white cloud Their habit of gnawing trees spoil! quite a lot of native bush. Then are also other families of thl cockatoo, the most common being the corella, or cut-throat cockatoo This bird has blood-red feathers in the crest, which is smaller than th< sulphur-crested bird’s, and has thl same blood-red feathers across thl throat. The galah. or rose-crested cockatoo most readers are familial with, is the most sought aftei as a talking cage-bird. Thl galah’s habits are the same as thl crested cockatoo’s, and they, too rob the wheat fields. A small bird is the woodpecker so called because he seems to put ID most of his life on tree trunki pecking grubs and spiders off thi bark of the gum tree. This bird is quite common where the Aus« tralian stringy-bark trees abound The nest is in a hole in a tree which is picked out by this littW bird’s sharp beak. In colour hi is ‘ much like the . thrush, ~bul slightly smaller.