6o2 NESTS AMD EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



Observations. — The Baudin or Wliite-tailed Black Cockatoo of the 

 west, is a splendid representative of the Funereal Cockatoo of eastern 

 forests. I shall never forget a pretty scene I witnessed one morning at 

 Deep Dene, in the Cape Leeuwin District. There was a flock of between 

 twenty and thifty of Baudin Cockatoos extending their wings, ducldng 

 their heads, and disputing for the u23permost places on the topmost 

 dead bi'anches of a low gum-tree. I was so near that the prominent 

 wliito ear coverts and white baiTed tails showed up to the utmost 

 advantage, and the birds seemed more lively than the other members 

 of the same genus I had seen in other parts of Austraha. 



The princij)al breeding months for this species are October, 

 November and December. 



In Mr. Le Souef's reference above given, he states that 

 " Mr. Bruce Leake (West Australia) found a nest of the White-tailed 

 Cockatoo on the 28th August, 1898. It was situated in a hollow spout 

 of a limb, thirty feet from the gi'oimd, that had broken off close to the 

 trunk and was partly overgrown, the two eggs being laid on the decom- 

 posed wood at the bottom. The birds had used the same nesting site 

 for several seasons. The eggs are dull white, sUghtly granulated, and 

 with a few small excrescences; in shape, oval, and measiu'e 

 (1) 1-79 X 1-3, (2) 1-77 X 1-26 inches." 



Mr. Le Souef further mentions that the nesting season is Aug^ist 

 and September, as against Gould's (;.(., Gilbert's) observations that 

 October and December are the breeding season. 



474. — Calyptorhynchus funereus, Shaw. — (401 and 402) 

 C. xanthonotus, Gould. 



BLACK COCKATOO. 



Figure. — Gould: Birds of Australia, fol., vol. v., pi. ii and 12. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xx., p. 107. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Gould: Birds of Australia (1848); 

 also Handbook, vol. ii., p. 21 (1865) ; North : Rec. Austn. 

 Mus., vol. ii., p. 18 (1892). 



Geographical Distribution. — South Queensland, New South Wales, 

 Victoria, South Austraha, Tasmania, and King Island. 



iVf,,;. — A hole usually in the trunk of a large cucalypt, situated in 

 almost inaccessible forest tracts. 



Eijgs. — Clutch, two ; roundish oval in shape ; texture of shell 

 coarse ; surf;ice slightly glossy, and with occasionally a few limy 

 excrescences. Dimensions of single examples : (from mainland) 

 1-93 X 1-45, (from Ta.sniania) 1-9 x 1-5; of a proper pair in the Hobart 

 Museum, taken from a stringy-bark (cucalypt), on the Western Tier, 

 25th January, 1897 ; (1, a pointed oval) 1-91 x 14, (2, a more rcgulai- 

 oval) l'89x 1-42. 



