Major Mitchelln.
/ˌmeɪdʒə ˈmɪtʃ(ə)l/, U.S. /ˈˌmeɪdʒər ˈˌmɪtʃəl/ More fully Major Mitchell cockatoo. An Australian cockatoo, Cacatua leadbeateri, with pink face and underparts and white upperparts (also called Leadbeater's cockatoo).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > perching birds > order Psittaciformes (parrots, etc.) > [noun] > cockatoo > types of
sulphur cockatoo1811
rose cockatoo1829
gang-gang1833
Leadbeater's cockatoo1848
galah1862
Major Mitchell1898
1898 E. E. Morris Austral Eng. 280/1 Major Mitchell, vernacular name of a species of Cockatoo, Cacatua leadbeateri... It was called after the explorer, Major (afterwards Sir Thomas) Mitchell, who was Surveyor-General of New South Wales. The cry of the bird was fancifully supposed to resemble his name.
1911 C. E. W. Bean ‘Dreadnought’ of Darling xvii. 169 We came across a flock of ‘Major Mitchells’,..white and pink, and exceedingly pretty when they fly and show the whole expanse of their pink feathers.
1953 A. Moorehead Rum Jungle iii. 40 Two of the Major Mitchells lighted on my shoulder.
1966 Times 28 Mar. (Austral. Suppl.) p. xvi/5 The Major Mitchell or pink cockatoo.
1988 Telegraph (Brisbane) 12 Jan. 9/4 A pair of Major Mitchell cockatoos will fetch $15,000 in the US.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1898