CALYPIOKIIV.Sf'HUS. 67 



safely down. It was a most difficult nest to reach. Not beinf^ sure of the species, the female was 

 shot at as it left the nest, and althou,i,'h hard hit we could not find it, so I decided to await the 

 home coming of the male bird. We heard him calling just at sundown, each call getting closer 

 and closer till he lit on the top of a large tree, close by the nest. Evidently he knew something 

 was wrong, as the hen bird had not left the nest ; however, I managed to shoot this one, which 

 I sent to you for identification. The female leaves the nest night and morning, and is fed 

 by the male bird the same as pigeons feed their young, by crossing beaks and ejecting the food 

 from the crop." The accompanying figure is reproduced from a photograph taken by Mr. 

 Savidge. The entrance to the nesting-place was at the junction of the first main fork. It is 

 exactly two inches from the top of the tinted back-ground. 



Mr. H. L. White sends me the following note from Belltrees, Scone, New South Wales: — 

 " CalyptorhyncJiui haiiksi is rather more numerous than C. ftincrcus, and occupies the same class of 

 country. The birds appear to be very fond of the seed of the Casuarina, which grows plentifully 

 on the hills about here. I have not seen or heard of a nest in this district, but have noted 

 young birds almost e\ery year.'' 



The late Mr. K. H. Bennett wrote ; — " With the exception of a pair of Calyptovhyjwhus 

 hauksi that I saw on the Lower Murrumbidgee River, I ha\e never met with this species anywhere 

 but in the \icinity of the Darling Ri\er. In the latter locality it was extremely numerous, 

 associating in flocks of several hundreds and feeding on the seeds of a small Salsolaceous plant 

 growing plentifully on the flats subject to inundation along the banks of the river. It was 

 extremely plentiful in the neighbourhood of Wilcannia. (.)n two occasions in July, 1S62, I 

 found nesting places on the Darling River. They were in the hollow trunks of large Gum trees, 

 on the bank of the river, and each contained a single young one about half fledged." 



From Broken Hill, in South-western New South Wales, Dr. W. Macgillivray sends me 

 the following notes : — " Banks' Black Cockatoo is found along the Darling River and its 

 tributaries from Menindie upwards, but does not come into this back country. Mr. Nigel 

 Kennedy of White Cliffs told me he counted as many as fifty in a flock on the Paroo River, in 

 i88b, as they passed over his camp one evening." 



Mr. Josepli Gabriel and Mr. G. A. Keartland both kindly permitted me to describe an egg 

 of this species in their collections. Both were recei\ed by the former from Mr. W. H. Watson, 

 and were taken by him from different nesting-places in Western Queensland. lie supplied the 

 following information under date 28th July, i8c)5 : — " I have forgotten the precise date of taking 

 the eggs of the Black Cockatoo, but I think I got one in the first week of May, and the 

 other in the first week of June. Both nesting-places were in holes in big Gum trees overhanging 

 a ri\er, and were so situated that a stone dropped from them would fall into deep water. I 

 was in a boat on both occasions, and the passengers who were with me also saw the Black 

 Cockatoos fly out of the hollow limbs. At one time I used to manage Cultowa Station, on the 

 Darling River, and there I saw dozens of the nests of these birds ; generally they were in very 

 big trees on the river banks. Altogether I have climbed to about twelve nests in New South 

 W'ales and Queensland, and have only found one egg or one young in each. I once watched 

 a nest on the Darling River, and took the young one, which was successfully reared by Mr. 

 John Hearn. It was a nice quiet bird, but when full grown got accidentally drowned." 



One of the above eggs is elongate-oval, the other a slightly swollen-oval, the shell being 

 rather coarse grained and minutely pitted, dull white and lustreless, one specimen having fine 

 crack-like fissures in the shell. Theymeasure: — Length (.\) 2-1 x 1-38 inches; (6)1-97 ^ ''+7 

 inches. Another specimen, with a few limy excrescences, subse(]uently received by me from 

 Mr. Gabriel, and taken on the 24th June, 1898, measures : — Length 2-03 x 1-38 inches. Mr. 

 Savidge kindly brought me for examination the egg he had taken on the Upper Clarence River 



