XESTS AND EGGS OF AVSTA'AUAA' BIRDS. 6lc; 



485. — LiCMETis NASiCA, Tcuuuinck. — (395) 

 LONG-BILLED COCKATOO (CORELLA). 



Figure. — Gould ; Birds of Australia, fol., vol. v., pi. 5. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xx., p. 133. 



I'revious Descriptions of Esss.—GovAA: Birds of Australia (1848), 

 also Handbook, vol. ii., p. 11 (iSbs) ; Campbell: Southt-rn 

 Science Record (1SS3); North: Austn. Mus. Cat., p. 252, pi. 

 14, fig. 4 (1889). 



Giii'jraphical Bislribution. — Northern TciTitory, Interior Queens- 

 land (probably), New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. 



Xcsf. — At the bottom of a hole in a large gum-tree (cucalypt). 



Eijijs. — Clutch, one to foiu', but usually two or three ; round oval in 

 shape ; texture of shell somewhat coarse ; surface glossy ; colour, pure 

 white. Dimensions in inches of a pair : (1) 1-57 x I'lD, (2) 1-57 x 1-11. 



Observations. — ^The Long-billed Cockatoo may be described as a bird 

 of quaint appeai-ance, possessing (as its name implies) a long, whitish- 

 colomcd bill, 1^ inches in length, and wearing a naked patch of bluish 

 skin roimd the eyes. The general plumage is white, except a percep- 

 tible waah of yellow on portions of the underneath parts, which colour is 

 not noticeable excejJt on close inspection. There is also a small patch 

 of red across the face; eyes light-brown. Total length of a .specimen 

 is between 16 inches and 17 inches. 



This Cockatoo is chiefly an interior species of the eastern half of 

 Austraha, but it has been recorded in districts south of Mclbomiie. 

 Years ;igo, thousands itsed to breed near the Miu'ray River, exclusively 

 in the red giuu-trees ( Eucahjptus rust rata), sometimes three or four nests 

 in one tree. To the late Mr. Gregory Bateman, an accurate obsei-ver, 

 who spent much time trapping amongst these feathered crowds, I have 

 been indebted for most interesting notes. 



The disappeaiunce or the retirement towards the interior of the 

 Long-billed Cockatoo or Corella is no doubt due to the depastunng ef 

 stock in the old haunts, the yam roots and the jsarticular food plants of 

 the birds being all destroyed. 



if a pair of birds be seen perching on a single tree, one may be satisfied 

 they possess a nesting-hole in the tree or in an adjacent one. 



The young are mostly fed with the soft, larvee-like seeds of a pelar- 

 gonium or wild geranium. The birds usually go out in the morning 

 from eight o'clock tiU eleven to feed upon the plain ; and again from 

 about five o'clock till dusk. Sometimes the young are heard being fed 

 in the holes after dark. The Parrot tribe feed their young like Pigeons, 

 by pumping- up partly digested food into the young ones' mouths. To 

 the uninitiated it would seem a very awkward business for the Corella, 

 with its lengthened upper mandible, to feed its tiny squabs. 



The Long-billed Cuckoo lays generally towards the end of August, 

 incubation lasting about a month ; and when the young are about five 



