NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



613 



Inland, from east to west of the southern part of Australia, this 

 most beautiful Cockatoo is foimd. The bird is not unfrequeutly called 

 Major Mitchell's Cockatoo, or the " Wecjuggier of bushmen. I well 

 remember the first time I saw the bu'd in the open. I was duck 

 shooting, along the Lower Murraj-, when one alighted on a t-all dead 

 stump in the centre of a lagoon, where, with noisy voice, it displayed 

 its " pink coloured wings and glowing crest." 



How an explorer's journeyings in the dreary desert must be en- 

 livened at times by the appearance of these glorious birds ! and 

 evidently the Pink Cockatoo is a lover of the desert, for during the 

 Calvert Expedition in the North-west, Mr. Keartland noted that the 

 birds were only found in the desert, where morning and evening they 

 were observed flying to and from water, or feeding on the bushes and 

 ground. Tliey were usually in pairs, and were seldom missed neax 

 the native wells. The birds, however, proved vei-y shy, and flew round 

 several times to see that all was safe before ahghting. 



From Mr. A. J. North we learn that Mr. K. H. Bennett foimd 

 this handsome bird breeding plentifully in the interior of New South 

 Wales, between the Lachlau and Darling Rivers, resorting usually to 

 lofty eucalypts for the pm-pose. In 'Victoria, the timber standing in 

 Lake Leaghur, off the Loddou River, used to be a favourite breeding 

 locaUty for the Pink Cockatoo. 



More recently (middle of October, 1898) Dr. Charles Ryan, 

 Mr. Charles French, juur., and my son found Pink Cockatoos breeding 

 on the edge of Pine Plains, North-western district of Victoria. The 

 nests examined had either newly-hatched young or eggs nearly incu- 

 bated. One nest was only about ten feet from the ground, in tlie 

 hollow top of a dead pine stump. 



I heard of the eggs of this Cockatoo being taken in the ueighbom-- 

 hood of Cooper's Creek, in June (1889). It is probable that the usual 

 breeding season is the same as that of the Wlute Cockatoo. 



482. — Cacatua gymnopis, Sclater. 

 BARE-EYED COCKATOO. 



Figure. — Gould — Sharpe : Birds of New Guinea, vol. v., pi. 46. 

 Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xx., p. 127. 



Ge(i(jraii]iir<il DLstrihiiffoii. — Interiors of Queensland, New South 

 ■Wales, and South Australia. 



Ne.^t. — A hole or hollow in a tree. 



■£','/,'/■•>■■ — Clutch, four ; rouuchsh in form ; texture somewhat coarse ; 

 sm-face glossy and minutely pitted ; colour, white. Dimensions in inches 

 of a pair from the Barrier Range (New South "Wales): (1) 1-5 x M8 

 (2) 1-45 X 1-12. 



