o London, and by
Boileau to the Paris of the rich. The word has been frequently confused
with Cockney (q.v.).

See D. M. Meon, _Fabliaux et contes_ (4 vols., 1808), and F. J.
Furnivall, _Early English Poems_ (Berlin, 1862).

COCKATOO (_Cacatuidae_), a family of parrots characterized among Old
World forms by their usually greater size, by the crest of feathers on
the head, which can be raised or depressed at will, and by the absence
of green in their coloration. They inhabit the Indian Archipelago, New
Guinea and Australia, and are gregarious, frequenting woods and feeding
on seeds, fruits and the larvae of insects. Their note is generally
harsh and unmusical, and although they are readily tamed when taken
young, becoming familiar, and in some species showing remarkable
intelligence, their powers of vocal imitation are usually limited. Of
the true cockatoos (_Cacatua_) the best known is the sulphur-crested
cockatoo (_Cacatua galerita_), of a pure white plumage with the
exception of the crest, which is deep sulphur yellow, and of the ear and
tail coverts, which are slightly tinged with yellow. The crest when
erect stands 5 in. high. These birds are found in Australia in flocks
varying from 100 to 1000 in number, and do great damage to newly-sown
grain, for which reason they are mercilessly destroyed by farmers. They
deposit their eggs--two in number, and of a pure white colour--in the
hollows of decayed trees or in the fissures of rocks, according to the
nature of the locality in which they reside. This is one of the species
most usually kept in Europe as a cage bird. Leadbeater's Cockatoo
(_Cacatua Leadbeateri_), an inhabitant of South Australia, excels all
others in the beauty of its plumage, which consists in great part of
white, tinged with rose colour, becoming a deep salmon colour under the
wings, while the crest is bright crimson at the base, with a yellow spot
in the centre and white at the tip. It is exceedingly shy and difficult
of approach, and its note is more plaintive while less harsh than that
of the preceding species. In the cockatoos belonging to the genus
_Calyptorhynchus_ the general plumage is black or dark brown, usually
with a large spot or band of red or yellow on the tail. The largest of
these is known as the funereal cockatoo (_Calyptorhynchus funereus_),
from the lugubrious note or call which it utters, resembling the two
syllables Wy--la--, the native name of the species. It deposits