100 



1882, and presented to the Museum by Mr. James Jones, of 

 Foxton. Unfortunately it had been partly eviscerted, so that 

 the chief characters which are relied on by Rev. Mr. Lowe 

 (Fishes of Madeira, p. 27) for his species L. lanta could not 

 be observed, viz., the absence of lingurl teeth, having six 

 instead of seven branchiostegal rays. 



Thyrsites prometheus, Webb and Berthel. Vel. T. prome- 

 theoides, Bleeker, Gunth. ii., 351. 



NOTES ON THE NIDIFICATION OF THE BLACK 



COCKATOO (jOalyptorhynchus xanthonotus) . 



By Alex. Morton. 



Read August 10th, 1896. 



Through the courtesy of Mr. M. W. Harrison, I have 

 been permitted to examine the egg of the Black Cockatoo 

 (CalyptorhyncJius xanthonotus), amd the following interesting 

 data has been kindly supplied to me by that gentleman. The 

 bird was seen by Mr. Leslie Burbury on several occasions to 

 fly from a hole in a gum tree, also by a shepherd in Mr. 

 Burbury' s employ. Both saw the bird leave the nest on the 

 occasion of taking the eggs. The shepherd, Mr. Harrison 

 states, was the first to discover the nesting place. On the 

 23rd January two eggs slightly incubated, one rather more 

 than the other, were taken by Mr. Leslie Burbury. The 

 height of the hole in which the eggs were deposited from 

 the ground was about 40ft., the depth of the hole from the 

 mouth was about 2ft. 6in. Mr. Burbury states that the nest 

 was a slight hollow in the decayed wood, a few dried 

 gum leaves, but this, Mr. Burbury says, may have been 

 accidental. The finding of the egg of the Black Cockatoo 

 in Tasmania is an extremely rare occurrence. I only know 

 of one other specimen having been recorded in the colony, an 

 egg taken by Mr. Wilson, of the Steppes, near the Oreat 

 Lake, from the bird. This specimen unfortunately was 

 broken, and is in the possession of Mr. C. E. Beddome, of 

 Brown's Eiver Eoad. Mr. A. L. Butler, of Hobart, has 

 succeeded in taking an excellent photo, of the egg in the 

 possession of Mr. Harrison. I have to thank both these 

 gentlemen for kindly supplying me with information and 

 also for the photographs. 



