Again Taking The Nut In Its Claws, It Inserts
The Very Long And Sharp Point Of The Bill And Picks Out The
Kernel, Which Is Seized Hold Of, Morsel By Morsel, By The
Extensible Tongue.
Thus every detail of form.
And structure in
the extraordinary bill of this bird seems to have its use, and we
may easily conceive that the black cockatoos have maintained
themselves in competition with their more active and more
numerous white allies, by their power of existing on a kind of
food which no other bird is able to extract from its stony shell.
The species is the Microglossum aterrimum of naturalists.
During the two weeks which I spent in this little settlement, I
had good opportunities of observing the natives at their own
home, and living in their usual manner. There is a great monotony
and uniformity in everyday savage life, and it seemed to me a
more miserable existence than when it had the charm of novelty.
To begin with the most important fact in the existence of
uncivilized peoples - their food - the Aru men have no regular
supply, no staff of life, such as bread, rice, mandiocca, maize,
or sago, which are the daily food of a large proportion of
mankind. They have, however, many sorts of vegetables, plantains,
yams, sweet potatoes, and raw sago; and they chew up vast
quantities of sugar-cane, as well as betel-nuts, gambir, and
tobacco. Those who live on the coast have plenty of fish; but
when inland, as we are here, they only go to the sea
occasionally, and then bring home cockles and other shell-fish by
the boatload.
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