parrots and cockatoos belonging respectively to the families Psittacidae and Cacatuidae, a large range of birds among which there are some species which have been eaten, for example in Papua New Guinea, and also in past times in Australia and New Zealand. One can find traces of dishes such as parrot pie in early Australasian cookery books, but they attracted only lukewarm praise and were often the subject of jokes (cook a cockatoo with an old boot in plenty of boiling water until the boot is tender, then throw away the bird and eat the boot—that sort of thing).
