Qjg NESTS AXD LGGS Of AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



The nesting places of the Rose-breasted Cockatoo or Galah are easily 

 found, because the bark smTounding the hole is peeled off all round for 

 some distance. Trees near the nest are often similarly marked by the 

 birds. The young are fed by tlieii' parents long after the former have 

 quitted their nests. 



Captain F. C. Hanson (of the river steamer " Maggie "), a great lover 

 of birds, infonns me he has seen Galahs or Rose-breasted Cockatoos going 

 in and out of the holes in the clifis of the Murray between Morgan and 

 the Victori.iu boundary. I suppose it cannot be possible that tliese are 

 the bu'ds referred to by Gould as the Wliite Cockatoos ! 



Mr. J. F. Carmichaol, Narlga, New South Wales, furnished me witli 

 a curious note of a pau' of tame Galahs that got together portions of old 

 paper, nested, and reared two young ones. 



On the habits of lairds coming to water, Mi'. H. W. Ford has kindly 

 sent uie the following interesting remarks : — " The Galah comes in from 

 suniise for about two hours, same in evening from about two hours of 

 sunset till near twihght. They fly right into water, settle round by 

 thousands and drink, and then break up into flocks and fly away to 

 feeding grounds or roosting. I look on the Galah as one of the best 

 guides to water in Western New South Wales that a bushman can get. 

 The Galah is never more than ten miles from water in summer, and usually 

 less. Always goes to water morning and evening — up to two hoxu's 

 after sunrise ami same before sunset. A person has only to watch these 

 birds and direction of flight to find water at times stated." 



During one of his periodical trips to tlie interior, Mr. W. Colenso 

 noticed a hole where a Black Duck was nesting, about seventy feet from 

 tlie ground, in a red gum-tree by a river. A pair of Galahs " jumped " 

 the nesting-hole, and when it was examined, it was found that some of 

 the Duck's eggs were of course smashed. 



Among Mr. Keartland's North-west notes, under the heading of the 

 Rose-breasted Cockatoo, one reads as follows : - — " Near Lake Way these 

 birds were first noted on July 13th ; but a few days later Mr. Jones* 

 discovered two of their nests, from whicli he dislodged the birds. Sub- 

 sequently, in crossing the desert, a number of other nests was foiuid, 

 and on October l.'itli Mr. Wells took three fledged young ones from a 

 hollow tree on a sandliill. Diu'ing February and March several nests, 

 containing eitlier eggs or young, were found near the Fitzroy River. 

 It will thas be seen that these birds have not only a wide range in the 

 north-west, but that their breeding time is equally extensive. The birds 

 were foimd in great flocks at all watei-s, and were so tame that no 

 difficulty was experienced in shooting a niunber for the pot, five or six 

 fref[Uently falling to one shot. Wlien well stewed they form a very 

 ])alatabh; dish." 



Mr. T. Carter tells me these Cockatoos breed in holes in mangroves 

 on the coast between Gascoyne and Wooraniel Rivers. 



•.Subsequently during that terrible journey Mr. G. L. Jones, unfortunately, 

 was lost, and perished from thirst. 



