70 



CACATUIlJ-E. 



the bath into spHnters with its powerful bill. L'nfortunately it died when just be<,nnnin.L; to talk. 

 A youn,L; bird may often be purchased from local Chinese storekeepers, who seem to fancy this 

 Cockatoo as a pet. iVIr. Pitford, a resident of Port Darwin, states that during March and July, 

 1Q06, about ten miles out of Pme Creek Railway Terminus, he saw small tlocks of eight to twelve 

 birds settling down to a waterhole, and as each flock arrived they amalgamated, forming one 

 great mass of birds, the sky being literally black with them. They would swoop down to quench 

 their thirst by scooping up the water while on the wing, and then settling down in the Ouandong 

 trees which L;rew in the vicinity of the waterhole, would pick the fruit, devouring the pulp and 

 rejecting the hard stones. These large flights occurred at daybreak and dusk, and, when 

 replenished, the great mass would rise in a body, divide up into small parties, and disappear for 

 the rest of the day. On one dead tree near by fully a hundred birds were counted, and their 

 harsh grating cry was simply deafening." 



From JNIr. Chas. I'rench, |unr.. Assistant (iovernment Entomologist of X'ictoria, 1 received 

 the tail of a female obtained at the same time as a set of two eggs which were taken from a nesting- 

 place in a hollow tree near the Daly River, in the Northern Territory of South Australia, on the 

 27th ]une, 1Q02. These eggs are long oval in shape, the shell being coarse-grained, sli.Ljhtly 

 pitted and dull white. They measure: — Length 2-o.S x 1-38 inches. Another egg from a set of 

 two taken on the 13th July, i<j02, measures : — Length i-88 x i-^ inches. 



Calyptorhynchus viridis. 



LEACH'S BLACK COCKATOO. 



Camtua i-irv/ls, Vieill., Nouv. Diet. dTIist., torn. XVII., p. l:! (1S17). 



Cabijiiurliynchiis harldl, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. V., pi. 10 (184S) ; vl„ llandl)k. Bds. Austr., 



Vol. II., p. 18 (18(55). 

 Calyplorlnjiirlnis ririi/is, Salvad., Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XX., p. 112 (18'Jl) ; Sliarpe, Hand 1, 

 Bd.s., Vol. II., p. 10 (1!)00). 



Adult .male. — Jfead hnnvn : back, iviiigs ami tail black, glassed >rit/i grii'ii, nil but tlte central 

 flair vt tail featliers crossrd in the middle loitli a rerinillion hand, except an tin' margin nf tlie ttiUrr 

 ivehs; (ill the under surface dark hnnvn, the lower siden of the bodi/ and tin- nnilrr tail-rnverts nearly 

 black, 'lud hiirliig a sliglil greenish glass : bill gnyish-black : legs and feet dark niealy-grey : iris 

 dark broirii. Total length in tlie jh'sh .'t)-'i inclus, /ring l.J-fi, tail 1(>, bill I'S, tnrsns l)-75. 



Adult femalk. — Similar in pliviuagi ta tin' mule, but liavin.g the rermiUion portimi nj the tnil- 

 featliers crossid wit/i black bands and ninrgiued iritli yellmr along th>- edy nf llnir inmr n'ebs / 

 the under surface of the tail-feathers shon-s more yellmr than mi tin npp' r surface, and particnhirly 

 on tlie outeriniisl fenther on either side. 



Distribution — Queensland, New South Wales, X'ictcria, South .\ustralia. Kangaroo Island. 



T7«) EACH'S Black Cockatoo is the smallest species of the genus, and in favourable situations 



J X is distributed throughout South-eastern (Queensland, Eastern and Central New South 



Wales, \"ictoria, the eastern portions of South Australia, and is likewise found on Kangaroo 

 Island. The coastal and contiguous mountain ranges, and open forest lands are its usual haunts. 

 There are numerous specimens in the .Australian Museum Collection, some of them procured by 

 Mr. Geo. Masters at Pine Mountain and the IJurnett River, in South-eastern Queensland, some 

 from the Richmond River and the Bellenger River, the latter obtained by Mr. Robt. Grant, and 

 some from Moss \'ale procured by the late Mr. J. A. Thorpe. The latter informed me that this 

 species used to frequent the neighbourhood of Botany and Kurnell. It is not found so close to Sydney 

 ?is Calyptorhynihus fnncvcus, hnt occurs twenty or thirty miles away at Port Hacking, National 



