ANCIENT COCKATOO BELIEVED AGED 120
EGO IN NAPOLEON’S DAY
A contemporary of “Cocky'’ Bennett, the famous cockatoo at Tom Ugly's Point, Sydney, which died a few years ago, has been discovered m England. This bird, which was born in Australia three years before Napoleon * retreat from Moscow in 1812, has probably seen more generations come and go, and heard more dialects spoken than anyone in the world. . Unlike “Cocky" Bennett in the latter's extreme old age, it has not yet begun to lose its feathers—that is, permanently —and it still has a beautiful sulphur-coloured breast. Cocky lives at Amersham, in Surrey. The date of ,his ■ arrivui from Australia is not known, but it is possible that he heard the church bells ringing after the victory at. Waterloo, and saw the soldiers returning- , The local legend is that he was
brought from, Australia as a present for a sailor’s sweetheart, and after the couple married was the pride of / thc family for many years. Ho lias been handed down from generation to generation, and his present home is the warmest corner in the' kitchen of a local inn. His owner attributes his great age to the fact that he lives mainly on monkey nuts. ‘ ‘ Cocky ’ ’ Bennett, of Sydney, was well over the century when he died. In fact, one historian declares that he met Captain Cook on his arrival in Australia with the remark, “Captain Cook, I presume?"
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/SNEWS19290813.2.6
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Shannon News, 13 August 1929, Page 2
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237ANCIENT COCKATOO BELIEVED AGED 120 Shannon News, 13 August 1929, Page 2
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