Breeding of Hybrid Cockatoo. 233 



Owing" to the \ast amount of war-work on hand daily, I 

 have had but little time to watch my birds, and in consequence 

 I am unable to supply any satisfactory data respecting" this most 

 interesting" nesting episode. 



I had noticed that they became very savage to the other 

 inmates of their aviary, which usually is the forerunner of nest- 

 ing activity, but I thought nothing" nuich of this, as the birds 

 did try last year with no result. This year, however, they settled 

 the matter for themselves by gnawing" a hole through the 

 ceiling and going up under the floor of the room above and 

 nested there. I noticed the hen Lemon-crest spent a great deal 

 of her time above the ceiling, but we really never thought 

 seriously about it, until one fine day we heard the unmistakable 

 sound of young birds being fed and we w^ere most anxious to 

 investigate and ascertain particulars as to the nest, etc., but 

 short of ptilling up all the. floor of the room above we could 

 arrive at nothing. I cannot say how many eggs were laid, but 

 last year two formed the clutch; these were white in colour and 

 of a long oval shape. I cannot give incubation period nor the 

 age when the young birds left the nest ; the episode was a very 

 great surprise to us and this must be our excuse. 



The aviary they nested in is part of an outdoor compart- 

 ment-aviary, the shelters of which are formed by a building at 

 the back of the flights, these are heated by hot-water pipes 

 during the winter months and the birds now have their division 

 to themselves. 



The parents of the hybrid were a cock Roseate and a hen 

 Lesser Lemon-crested Cockatoo. The father has a very dani- 

 ciged beak, but is perfectly healthy and fit withal. The hen bird 

 mostly seemed to feed the young one, but I do not kno'v 

 v.hcther this was because of the male bird's damaged beak or 

 not. I regret the lack of details, but I have given all I can, not 

 only because of war-work, but mainly owing to the whole 

 episode occurring" out of sight above the ceiling until the young 

 bird made its exit from the nest. 



I am not good at describing plumages : the young bird 

 is a lovely pearl-grey all over the back and wings ; the crest is not 

 round like its father's, but is more horse-shoed in shape when 



