Note 30 — Chapter III

Among the Psittaceæ tribe is the Psittacus Novæ Hollandiæ, curious as being one of the parrot tribe, seen and mentioned by Captain Cook, but is a very rare species in the present known parts of the colony,—(it is, more correctly, a species of cockatoo, and which, I believe, Mr. Vigors has; or intends, to place in a new genus,)—and has not been seen even in those portions of the colony visited by Cook. The specimen in the collection, is one among a few of this species that was seen at Wellington Valley a few years since, during a prevailing drought, and since that period they have not been seen in that or any other known part of the colony. I heard at Yas Plains, that it was not uncommon at some seasons of the year to observe birds, before unknown to the colonists, appear, and soon after again disappear, and are, perhaps, never seen again until years after, and often not at all.