John Gamblin asked: (edited)
"A
certain female wild bird rehabber overseas asks did our yellow and red
tailed black cockatoos derive their colouring from sitting too close to
their aboriginal fire, considering once upon a time they were of the same
genes stock of the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo."
I don't know how many of you see the
generally entertaining animated items used as fill ins on ABC TV, that
purport to be of aboriginal legends. Whilst I have doubt about veracity of
the origin of some stories, especially as one I saw about birds quarrelling
about which could fly highest is almost identical to a legend from Europe
and sometimes they resemble Aesop's stories and are certainly Lamarkian
rather than Darwinian. Anyway I saw one that did purport to tell the legend
something like of Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos having "derived their
colouring from sitting too close to their aboriginal
fire".
Philip
