C A C A T U A ID) HT (Ç (D)H§, IP SIC 9 ffombr et Ja/xi.
CACATUA DUCORPSI, ja c q . et Pucher.
Ducorps’s Cockatoo.
Cacatoès de Ducorps, Hombr. & Jacq. Yoy. Pôle Sud, Atlas, pl. 26. fig. 1 (1845).
PlyctolopTms Du Crops, Bp. Compt. Rend. xxx. p. 138 (1850).—Id. Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1854, p. 156.
Cacatua ducorpsii, Jacq. et Pucber. Yoy. Pôle Sud, Zool. i. p. 108 (1853).—Hartl. J. f. O. 1854, p. 165.—Sclater,
Proc. Zool. Soc. 1860, p. 228.—Id. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, pp. 188, 189, pl. xvii. (nec Proc. Zool. Soc.
1862, pl. xiv.).—Wall. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, p. 280.—Sclater, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) xv. p. 74
(1865).—Id. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1867, p. 184.—Id. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1869, pp. 118, 124.—Gray, Hand-1.
Birds, ii. p. 170 (1870).— Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1875, pp. 59, 60.—Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civ. Genov. x.
p. 25 (1877).—Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. W. iv. p. 68 (1879).— Salvad. Orn. Papuasia e delle
Moluccbe, i. p. 104 (1880).—Sclater, List of Animais in Zool. Gard. p. 312 (1883).
Cacatua ducrops, Bp. Naumannia, 1856, Consp. Psitt, sp. 269.
Ducorpsius typus, Bp. Compt. Rend. xliv. p. 537 (1857).
Cacatua ducorpsii, Gray, List Psitt. Brit. Mus. p. 94 (1859).
Cacatua {Ducorpsius) ducorpsii, Gray, Cat. B. Trop. Isl. p. 34 (1859).
? Lophocroa learii, Finsch, Nederl. Tijdschr. v. Dierk. i. Berigten, p. xxiii (1863).
Cacatua sanguinea (pt.), Schleg. Mus. Pays-Bas, Psittaci, p. 144 (1864).
Cacatua triton (pt.), Schleg. Nederl. Tijdschr. v. Dierk. iii. p. 320 (1866).
Plictolophus ducorpsii, Finsch, Papag. i. p. 311 (1867).—Id. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1869, p. 127.
Cacatua goffmi, Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1869, p. 122, 1875, p. 61, pl. x.—Id. List of Animais in Zool. Gard,
p. 312 (1883).
I t is to the French discovery-ships ‘ L ’Astrolabe ’ and ‘ L a Zélée,’ which made an expedition towards the
South Pole in the years 1837-40, that we owe the discovery o f this Cockatoo. I t was found in the Solomon
Islands by the naturalists o f the expedition, and dedicated by Messrs. Hombron and Jacquinot, the authors
o f the zoological portion o f the narrative o f the ‘ Voyage au Pôle Sud,’ to M. Ducorps, one of the officers
on board the ‘ A strolabe.’
Little further was known o f Ducorps’s Cockatoo until 1864, when a fine pair o f the species was received
alive by the Zoological Society of London, direct from Guadalcanar Island, one o f the Solomon group.
One o f these birds was figured by Mr. Sclater in the Zoological Society’s ‘ Proceedings’ for th at year
(pi. xvii.), in order to show its distinctness from the larger Cacatua op/ithalmica, which Mr. Sclater had
previously confounded with C. ducorpsi.
In his well-known work on the Parrots, D r. Finsch, besides admitting C. ducorpsi as a distinct species,
also recognized C. goffini, which he had previously described from specimens living in the Zoological
Gardens of Amsterdam and Rotterdam. In some o f his remarks in the Zoological Society’s ‘ P roceedings,’
Mr. Sclater has likewise treated these two species as distinct, and has even figured a white Cockatoo as
Cacatua goffini (see P. Z. S. 1875, p. 61, pi. x .). But we believe th at he is now convinced that the
specimens which he has formerly referred in some cases to C. ducorpsi, and in others to C. goffini, were not
really distinct, but all belonged to the same species, to which the former title is properly applicable.
Ducorps’s Cockatoo is a small white species, much resembling the Blood-stained Cockatoo (C. sanguined)
figured in the ‘ B irds o f A ustralia,’ vol. v. pi. 3 ; but it is immediately distinguishable by the entire absence
o f any red markings on the face. The naked skin round the eye is nearly circular in form and, in the
living bird, o f a pale blue colour. The basal p a rt o f the crest-feathers is reddish orange, with a slight tinge
o f lemon-yellow, sometimes mixed with rosy red towards th eir summit, which colour, however, is hardly
seen unless the crest is elevated. The wing- and tail-feathers are likewise stained on the inner webs with
pale lemon-colour. From the Cockatoo o f the Philippine Islands {Cacatua philippinarum), which is likewise
closely allied, the present species is a t once distinguishable by the absence of the red colour on the vent.
As regards the supposed occurrence o f this species in Queensland, which was stated by Mr. Sclater
(P . Z. S. 1875, p. 6 0 ) on the information o f Mr. J . T . Cockerell, Mr. Sclater now believes that there has
been some erro r on this point, and th at Ducorps’s Cockatoo is absolutely confined to the islands of the
Solomon' group, having so far been met with in Guadalcanar and Savo.