being invisible ; and doubtless he thus lures insectivorous birds

to their fate. It may be that these tufts are used also forcourtin

purposes. The feathers of the hind neck he often raises like

mane.


Bob seems to be of arboreal habits, and keeps much to

the perches, bounding about with great power and spring. He

has a curious way, which I have not noticed quite the same in

any other species, of “ taking a header ” when he wants to go

down, which he does without a flutter or sound. The boat¬

shaped tail probably helps him to execute this movement, which

I suspect enables him to catch unsuspecting prey below. When

on the ground, where he seldom remains long, he will hop and

take short runs, but never walk.


(To be continued).



NESTING OF THE LEADBEATER COCKATOO.


By Mrs. Johnstone.


It is with much pleasure that I send an account of the

nesting of the Leadbeater Cockatoo, in my aviary this summer.


The old birds commenced hunting for a suitable nesting

hole early in April. All the birds in this aviary had been out

the entire winter.


In the aviary are two rotten trees, about eight feet high ;

they are entirely rotten inside, and much exposed to wind and

rain. The Cockatoos took a great fancy to one, and, knowing it

was useless to allow them to nest in it as it was, I had it boarded

up on the open side, leaving a sufficiently large hole for them to

use, near the top, with a drop inside of about two feet. It made

a most excellent nesting-place in their opinion, for they were in

and out of the hole the day it was finished.


The other tree, treated in a similar way, was seized upon

by a beautiful pair of Rock Pepler Parrakeets. I say “ seized,”

as I never saw such keen competition amongst the various

Parrakeets; it was, apparently, perfection in their opinion.


I cannot say how many eggs the hen Leadbeater laid, but

she sat very closely for over three weeks, and then one day I saw

her off her nest, and, to my surprise, she did not return to it for

some hours. On approaching the tree, I could hear the young

birds moving about. They made a curious hissing noise, and

were evidently quite conscious of the approach of danger. The

cock bird spent all his time eating decayed wood from a

neighbouring stump ; he fed the hen, who in her turn fed the



bo rt



