Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/801

 COCKATOO COCKBURN 785 laid in the hollows of decayed trees. There are about a dozen species, of large size, and of dark colors. One of the finest species is the Banksian cockatoo (C. stellata, Wagler), called by the natives geringore ; the plumage is gen- erally greenish black, with a purple tinge on the back and wings ; the bill is grayish white, the cheeks yellow, and the lateral feathers of the black tail vermilion in their central portion Goliath or Great Black Cockatoo (Microglossum aterrimum). with narrow bars of black. A larger species is Solander's cockatoo (C. Temminckii, Kuhl). One of the largest of the parrot family is the Goliath, or great black cockatoo, belonging to the genus microglossum of Geoffrey, which is characterized by a very large bill, much curv- ed to the long and acute tip, the lateral mar- gins of the upper mandible bidentated, the low- er mandible smaller, broad, and much emargi- nated on each side ; the cheeks and front of the Long-billed Cockatoo (Nestor productus). throat denuded of feathers; they live in the forests of Papua, Ceram, and other eastern islands. This species (M. aterrimum, Gmel.) is of dark color, with a crest of grayish, long narrow feathers, which can be erected at will. The genus nestor of "Wagler has the bill much lengthened, the wings long and pointed, and the tail moderate and even, with the shafts of the firm broad feathers pro- longed beyond the webs. There are two spe- cies, living in New Zealand and Australia, they eat nuts, berries, and bulbous roots ; in the morning and evening they are very noisy. The southern brown cockatoo (N. australis, Shaw) has the forehead and crown grayish white, slightly tinged with green ; the ear cov- erts yellowish ; the sides of the neck, breast, and abdomen dull red, the feathers margined with green ; the back and wings brownish oil- green ; the rump and vent deep red ; the tail brownish green. COCKATRICE, generally identified with the basilisk, a fabulous, serpent-like animal, which was believed to be produced from a hen's egg. The superstition prevailed among the ancients and during the middle ages. (See BASILISK.) COCKBURN, Sir Alexander James Edmund, an English jurist, born in 1802. His father, Alex- ander Cockburn, was British minister in Colom- bia ; his mother was a daughter of Viscount de Viguier of Santo Domingo; and he succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his uncle, Sir William Cockburn, dean of York, in 1858. He graduated at Cambridge, was called to the bar in 1829, and went the western circuit. He was made a queen's counsel in 1841, and ob- tained a large share of the parliamentary prac- tice that grew out of the railway mania of 1846. In 1847 he was returned to the house of commons from Southampton, and distin- guished himself especially in 1850, when he made his celebrated defence of Lord Palmer- ston's foreign policy. In August, 1850, he was appointed solicitor general and knighted, and in March, 1851, attorney general, which office he held (with an interval from February to De- cember, 1852) till November, 1856. In 1854 he was made recorder of Bristol, having pre- viously been recorder of Southampton. He was a member of parliament for Southamp- ton till November, 1856, when, on the death of Chief Justice Jervis, he was created chief justice of the court of common pleas, and in 1859 became chief justice of the court of queen's bench, succeeding Lord Campbell, who was made lord chancellor. His charge to the grand jury, April 10, 1867, in the case of Gen. Nelson and Lieut. Brand, prosecuted by the Ja- maica defence committee, contains an elabo- rate exposition of martial law, and of its ap- plication in various periods of English his- tory. In September, 1871, he was appointed the British arbitrator under the treaty of Washington for the settlement of the Alabama claims. Differing with his colleagues at the Geneva conference, he refused to sign the award that was finally made in favor of the United States, and prepared an elaborate dis- senting opinion. His course at the conference has been the subject of much criticism, espe- cially on the part of the Hon. Caleb Gushing in his " Treaty of Washington " (1873). This work analyzes his character and manners with great severity, but does not refer to his do- mestic relations, which have been often com-