68 CACATHID.K. 



on the 13th May, igoo; also the skin of the male for identification. This egg is oval in form, 

 pure white, dull and lustreless ; the shell, aithouj^h fairly close-grained, has numerous fine 

 pittings, as if made with the point of a pin, and has two small and one medium-sized limy 

 excrescences on the larger end. It measures: — Lengtli2'i2 x 1-53 inches. 



From the preceding notes it will be seen that the breeding season of Banks' Ijlack Cockatoo 

 in New South Wales extends over May, June and July, and probably it is the latter end of 

 August, or early in September, before some of the young of the late breeders leave the nesting- 

 place. 



Calypforhyiiihiis sh-llaliis is a slightly smaller South-western and Central .Australian form of 

 C. hnnksi : the more rounded forms of the crest referred to by Gould are not apparent in the 

 Australian Museum series of adult males from Western Australia. Kn adult male from Central 

 Australia has the red band on the tail feathers mingled with yellow, and these are crossed by several 

 narrow irregular black bands. Adult females from Western .Australia may be chiefly distinguished 

 by the larger amount of yellow in the tail feathers; again, this is not a constant character, for I 

 have seen a specimen from the south-west with as much red on the tail-feathers as examples 

 from the I>ellender Ker Range, North-eastein (Queensland. W ing of adult male from Western 

 Australia 16 inches; of adult female i^'i inches. 



Mr. Edwin Ashby wrote me : — " I saw large flocks of Cdlvplorlivncliiis itii/iitiis at Kojonup, 

 Western Australia, in May, 1S89. They trecjuent the somewhat open country with scattered 

 /\cacias and ICucalyptus trees." 



From Broome Hill, in the south-western portion of Western .Australia, Mr. Tom Carter sent 

 the following note : — "Western Black Cockatoos (Cnlvptorkvinhiis itcUatus) were numerous in 

 the south-western portion of this State twenty years ago, but have now either much decreased 

 in numbers or retired before civilization. At that time they were abundant about the \'asse 

 kiver, where they are now seldom seen. The greatest numbers I have seen in late years were 

 on Blackwood River, in 1904, and on the coast near the Margaret River. If a bird is shot from 

 a flock, the others will hover around it, making a great outcry and affording an easy target, 

 otherwise they are difficult to approach." 



While resident at Illamurta, Central Australia, Mr. C. Ernest Cowle wrote me as follows : — ■ 

 " Calyptoyhynchus stc/lntiis lays on the decaying wood inside the hollow branch of high Gum trees, 

 either green or dry, and the nesting-places are frequently noticeable from the habit of the birds, 

 gnawing or biting off the wood around the hole. Generally it lays two eggs, but I have had three 

 brought me, which the blacks said came out of one nest. These birds fre(]uently lay in the same 

 nest their eggs have been taken from. They lay usually in March and April and up to the end 

 of May, and remain with us throughout the year. 



Two eggs of this form taken from the hollow spout of a tree on the 12th March, 1895, 

 are pure white, oval in form, the surface of the shell, although smooth, being minutely pitted 

 and lustreless. They measure : — Length (A) 1-93 x 1-48 inches; (B) 2^04 x I'^y inches. A 

 single egg taken by Mr. Cowle, at Illamurta, on the 12th March, 1894, differs from the above in 

 having the surface lustrous. It measures : — Length 2-02 x 1-46 inches. Another taken on the 

 loth March, 1895, in the same locality, measures : — Length 2-02 x 1-44 inches. Although only 

 one egg was found in each of these nesting places, both were incubated. 



From Melbourne, \'ictoria, Mr. G. A. Keartland sends me the following note : — " In Central 

 Australia Calvptorhyucliiis steUatin may be seen in immense flocks feeding on all kinds of seeds, 

 which they find on the ground. The farthest south they reach is Goyder's Well, on the Finke 

 River, north of Charlotte Waters, but their range extends for about six hundred miles north of 



