NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 605 



following. The season previous they took a young bird from the nest 

 that contained the two eggs. Again, a few seasons later, Mr. Barnard 

 wi-ites : — "Last month (May, 1891), when the boys were out camping, 

 thev found four nests of Black Cockatoos — two of the Funereal and 

 two of Leach's — but, imfortunately, only one egg in each (rather too 

 early), and owing to the continued wet weather they were unable to 

 go again for a fortnight, and then had to walk the ten miles. Tliis 

 time they got one nest only. It was the Funereal species, one they had 

 robbed before in the trimk of a giun-tree. To get the nest on the 

 previous occasion the boys had to cut a hole about six feet below the 

 entrance. This time they found the bird had filled the apertiu-e bv 

 biting away the inside of the trunk and letting the dehrix settle down 

 to a sohd foiindation, reaching six inches above the cut opening, and 

 whereon the two eggs were placed." 



In communicating the same intelligence to another correspondent. 

 Mr. Barnard added that the nests were all within a mile of each other, 

 and were in hollow boughs of lofty eucalypts. Those of the Funereal 

 Cockatoo were from thirty to forty feet from the ground, and deep 

 down in a hollow trunk, while the nests of Leach's were from seventy 

 to ninety feet from the ground, and the eggs could almost be reached 

 from the entrance. 



A correspondent, wilting to "The Argus," 17th Julv. 1890, states: 

 " Wlicn at Cambridge Downs, Northern Queensland, in 1885, I hap- 

 pened to be galloping through some timber after horses, and I noticed 

 a Black Cockatoo fly out of an old stump about twenty feet high. 

 I climbed the tree and got one egg, which proved to have a yoiuig one 

 in it, but, nevertheless, I managed to save it. The old bird had yellow 

 bars on the tail feathers.'' 



The last find of a Funereal Cockatoo's nest is probably the most 

 interesting. It is in connection with a pair of eggs in the collection of 

 Mr. D. Le Souef, taken in the "Wimmera district of Victoria, 25th 

 February, 1896, by Mr. John L. Minogue. The ne.st was fifty or sixty 

 feet from the groimd, in a straight, dry red gum, the trees usually 

 chosen for breeding pvirposes in that district. The bird was seen to 

 fly out of the nesting hole. The collector stated that, as is always the 

 case, there is an intei-val of one week between the laying of each egg, 

 consequently one young bird is hatched before the other, the last 

 generally dying soon after leaving the shell, possibly having no chance 

 in the race for hfe ^vith its larger nest-fellow. 



Mr. James Edgar, of Pine Hills, Han-ow, Victoria, had a Funereal 

 Cockatoo in captivity for two years, which could talk and whistle. 

 Tlie bird was difficult to rear, taking fits, which were cured by Epsom 

 salts. Otherwise, it was apparently well, excepting that the feathers 

 never grew properly, or rather the bird chewed them off. Probably 

 there was something wanting in its food, which consisted of bread and 

 milk, rice pudding, &c. It would eat nothing else. 



Tlie breeding months of the Funereal Cockatoo would appear to 

 be May, June, and July, in Queensland, and October to January or 

 February in the south. 



