THE GOLIAH ARATOO.


The splendid family of parrots includes about one hundred and sixty
species, and, though peculiar to the warmer regions of the world, they
are better known in England than any other foreign bird. From the beauty
of their plumage, the great docility of their manners, and the singular
faculty they possess of imitating the human voice, they are general
favourites, both in the drawingroom of the wealthy and the cottage of
humble life.

The various species differ in size, as well as in appearance and colour.
Some (as the macaws) are larger than the domestic fowl, and some of the
parakeets are not larger than a blackbird or even a sparrow.

The interesting bird of which our Engraving gives a representation was
recently brought alive to this country by the captain of a South-seaman
(the _Alert_), who obtained it from a Chinese vessel from the Island of
Papua, to whom the captain of the _Alert_ rendered valuable assistance
when in a state of distress. In size this bird is one of the largest of
the parrot tribe, being superior to the great red Mexican Macaw. The
whole plumage is black, glossed with a greenish grey; the head is
ornamented with a large crest of long pendulous feathers, which it
erects at pleasure, when the bird has a most noble appearance; the
orbits of the eyes and cheeks are of a deep rose-colour; the bill is of
great size, and will crack the hardest fruit stones; but when the
kernel is detached, the bird does not crush and swallow it in large
fragments, but scrapes it with the lower mandible to the finest pulp,