60 



CACATlin,E. 



two nests of Calyptiii-hyiuhus and two of C. solaiiiiri, about ten miles from the homestead. Each 

 nest contained but a single ef,',t;, all of which were perfectly fresii, but as the holes in the trees 

 had all been enlarj:^ed by chopping, and they were far from home, the eggs were taken. All the 

 nests were within a mile of each other, and were in the hollow boughs of lofty Kucalypts. The C. 

 funcreiis nests were from thirty to forty feet from the ground, and deep down in the hollow trunks of 

 trees; those of C. iolaudri were from seventy to ninety feet from the ground, and the eggs could 

 almost be reached from the entrance. .\ fortnight after my sons went out again, but only one 

 nest was found to be re-occupied, that of C. fiiiinriis, which contained two eggs." 



Mr. H. (}. Barnard, of Bimbi, Duaringa.Oueens- 

 land, writes me as follows: — '' Ca/yptorhynthus 

 fmiemis breeds in this district during May and June. 

 The site generally selected is a hollow in a Gum 

 tree(Eucalyptus), either Swamp or Lemon-scented, 

 but I have also found them in dead trees. When 

 they have selected a suitable hollow the birds, 

 with their powerful bills, chip all the decayed 

 wood from the inside uf the hollow, letting it tall 

 to the bottom, where it forms a thick and soft 

 resting place for the eggs, keeping them off the 

 damp wood, which is generally to be found in 

 hollows at that season of the year. The eggs, two 

 in number for a sitting, are deposited at the bottom 

 of the hole, from two to si. k feet from the entrance. 

 Though the birds hatch both eggs, 1 have never 

 seen a pair of the young reared, one always seems 

 to die. In 1882, when a boy, I climbed a very 

 large Swamp Gum for a Funereal Cockatoo's 

 nest, and found two young in it just hatched. 

 Wishing to rear the young I left them, and returned 

 some weeks later to find only one bird alive, the 

 remains of the other being in the hole. I secured 

 the one rernaining, and successfully reared it on 

 bread and milk and chopped fresh meat ; it would 

 not eat seed of any kind. I was offered fi\'e pounds 

 for the bird as soon as it would feed itsell, but this 

 it refused to do ; it would willingly take food from 

 my hand, but would not attempt to feed itself, and 

 when nearly twehe months old a nati\e cat got 

 into the cage and ended its career. 'J'he food 

 of these birds consists of large white grubs. I 

 found a nest of Calyptorhvinhiis fuiicrcus on the 31st 

 May, 1S93, in a tall Eucalyptus, and about forty feet from the ground, the nesting-place and the 

 distance from the entrance to where the egg was deposited being eight feet. As I had chopped 

 into the tree, and was also leaving home next day for a fortnight, I was reluctantly compelled 

 to take the single egg found in the nesting-place." 



From Copmanhurst, Tpper Clarence River, New Snutli Wales, Mr. George Savidge writes 

 me: — " G7/v/'/oW;i';/(7»/s/;/««77/s is nowhere numerous here. It maybe seen in twos or threes, 

 and before the breeding season in small flocks of four or five. -V set of two eggs was found by 

 me on the 21st March, iXij'j. They were deposited in the main branch of a tall l--ucalyptus 



ORAHA liUKU AHORIGINAL CMMIilNli TREE. 



